A street astronomer with a welcoming smile killed a young Bronx girl who dreamed of the stars — and kept the slaying a secret for more than 20 years, prosecutors said at the accused killer’s cold case murder trial.
It took a cutting-edge new DNA technique and a detective’s ruse in a diner to reveal Joseph “Jupiter Joe” Martinez as the alleged killer of 13-year-old Minerliz Soriano, Assistant District Attorney John Miras told jurors in Bronx Supreme Court last week.
“She wanted him to show her the stars. Instead, he threw her into the dumpster,” Miras said in his opening statement at Martinez’s trial.
Martinez lived a few floors below Minerliz in her Pelham Parkway South apartment building when she disappeared on Feb. 24, 1999. Four days later, a maintenance worker found her stuffed