Virginia Man Arrested in Connection With Cold Case Murder of NYC Girl Strangled With Her Own Bra 30 Years Ago

A suspect has been arrested in connection with the murder of a New York City teenager that was strangled to death with her own bra over 30 years ago, according to authorities.

The Queens District Attorney’s Office announced 58-year-old Jerry Lewis of Shawsville, Virginia, was arraigned on May 1 for the murder of 15-year-old Nadine Slade.

Slade was found naked and strangled with her own bra inside the bathroom of her family’s home in Far Rockaway, Queens, on May 7, 1992.

Lewis has a lengthy rap sheet, including serving six years in prison after he was convicted in 2015 of breaking into the home of an 88-year-old Queens woman and sodomizing her at knifepoint, the New York Post reported.

Detectives were able to crack the cold case after requesting new DNA testing on preserved fingernails clipped from Slade’s body, officials said.

Det. Donnamarie Mazza told The Post, “We were just digging through old homicide cases and saw that [the Slade murder] had some forensic possibilities.” Mazza said the results matched Lewis’s DNA.

Mazza traveled to Virginia to talk with Lewis, who spoke freely with the NYC detective for almost four hours, she said.

On April 28, Lewis was extradited to NYC, where he was charged, according to authorities.

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Lewis was booked into the Eric M. Taylor Center on Rikers Island. If convicted on the second-degree murder charge, he could face 25 years to life.

He is scheduled to appear in court next on June 7.

District Attorney Melinda Katz said prosecutors “hope to achieve justice for Nadine and bring closure and some measure of solace to her bereaved mother,” The Post reported.

Mazza added, “Her mom says she hasn’t slept through the night in 31 years. Their lives don’t go on — they are still stuck in that day.”