COLD FOR DECADES

NJ Man Arrested in Sex Assault of Woman Murdered in 1990

Authorities used an old DNA sample and new techniques to identify a suspect.

A 62-year-old New Jersey man has been charged with sexually assaulting a young woman who was found murdered in the seaside city of Wildwood more than three decades ago. Authorities say new DNA technology led them to arrest Jerry Rosado in the cold case of Susan Negersmith. The 20-year-old, who lived in Carmel, New York, was visiting the shore with friends for Memorial Day weekend in 1990 when her partially clothed body was found in a storage area next to a restaurant. Prosecutors initially declared she was the victim of a drunken fall but later said she had actually been raped and smothered. Officials said they identified Rosado as the suspect using genealogical DNA in which experts compare genetic material to other profiles in databases to create a family tree.