Rashon Venable, 24, has been arrested in the murder of a 14-year-old Queens girl in 2008. (PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE)
Two New York City detectives who solved the cold case murder of a 14-year-old girl received hugs last week from the victim’s grateful mom.
Sabrina Matthews’ killer slit her throat in the middle of the night on Nov. 9, 2008, and left her to die in her bedroom in eastern Queens.
On Monday, Cold Case detectives John Roberts and Phil Panzarella told Shirda Matthews they charged Pennsylvania inmate 24-year-old Rashon Venable with her daughter’s murder after DNA connected him to the crime, PIX11 reported.
“I scream out in the air, and I said, ‘Thank you, Jesus!’” Matthews told the station. “Oh, God, I cry and cry and I said, ‘Detective? Is this for real?’ And I said, ‘Can I hug you, sir?'"
Venable was arrested in Pennsylvania and charged with raping a 14-year-old girl in 2009. He later copped a plea to a lesser charge.
Roberts and Panzarella obtained his DNA after it was entered into a national data base in 2015, PIX11 reported.
It’s unclear how Sabrinia knew Venable, who was 16 at the time of the murder. Reports at the time said the 9th-grader may have met her killer over the Internet.
“This was very gratifying for the family, bringing closure after all these years,” Panzarella told the station. “It's the first step in a long process for them.”
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