Man Pleads Guilty in Death of Eridania Rodriguez

By Alicia Cruz

Senior writer
Theblackurbantimes

A few hundred feet from the World Trade Center reconstruction site in the financial district of Manhattan, a tragedy unfolded. The mysterious disappearence of 46-year old Edriana Rodriguez touched off a massive search at 2 Rector Street where she worked as a cleaner. She was last seen on building video cameras at 7 p.m. Within minutes, she vanished.

Four days later police, following a foul odor on the 12th floor of the Rector Street building, found the mangled body of Edriana Rodriguez stuffed in an air conditioning shaft. Her mouth, arms and legs bound with construction tape, her crucifix entangled in that tape. The same security cameras that picked up her last moments alive, never showed her leaving the building.

Later, police would focus their investigation on a building elevator operator named Jospeh Pabon. With his arrest record for assaulting his girlfriend and breaking her windshield with a bowling ball, he was a likey suspect not to mention the fact that he had left the building early nor could he explain the scratches on his arms.

Within weeks, he was arrested for Rodriguez' murder.Earlier today, with her family members present in the courtroom, Joseph Pabon appeared in New York State Supreme Court where he pled not guilty in the death of Edriana Rodriguez.
Investigators say Pabon snatched 46-year-old Eridania Rodriguez on July 7 as she worked on an empty floor in the 26-story office building.