An immigrant from Guatemala is on trial for murdering a Rockland County housewife

Jim Fitzgerald:

A prosecutor described in nightmarish detail yesterday the rape, mutilation and killing of a Rockland County housewife, allegedly at the hands of a worker who was supposed to be power-washing her deck.

The assault on Mary Nagle was so brutal that crime-scene investigators found a piece of her ear and hanks of her hair scattered around her bedroom, District Attorney Michael Bongiorno said at the start of the murder trial. One of the victim's fingers was nearly amputated as she tried to fend off her attacker.

The April 29 killing, in a quiet, manicured neighborhood of New City, exposed the danger of a common situation in the suburbs - the husband at work, the kids at school, the housewife home alone and a contractor on the scene, often with access to the house.

Bongiorno said Nagle, 42, was in her bedroom, changing into tennis clothes, when the attacker sneaked in with his knife, "tearing her clothes off, beating her mercilessly, slashing her with the razor."

"Mary Nagle put up a courageous struggle, but she was no match," he said.

The attack culminated with Nagle being strangled so hard that it broke a bone in her neck, he said.

Among Nagle's relatives and friends in the courtroom gallery yesterday, some wept as Bongiorno presented his opening statement. Her husband Dan said afterward, "It's a difficult time and it will always be a difficult time." He said the couple's children, a first-grade girl and a fourth-grade boy, "are doing good." His feelings about the defendant, he said, were "unmentionable."

Ronald Douglas Herrera Castellanos, 30, is charged with 15 counts of first- and second-degree murder, most of them based on the allegation that he killed Nagle while committing other felonies including rape, robbery and burglary. He could face life in prison with no chance of parole.

His attorney, Barry Weiss, decided not to make an opening statement for the defense. Outside the courtroom, he said, "We will test all the claims made by the people." He said he has not decided whether Herrera, an immigrant from Guatemala whose visa expired in 2001, will testify.

Rockland D.A. describes Mary Nagle's brutal rape and murder

Illegal Alien Crime