CT man charged in death of woman found in CT cemetery alleges that killing stemmed from $700 debt

Yahoo

08-05-2025

Police have arrested a man in connection with the death of a woman whose body was found at a cemetery in New Haven last week.
Edwin Arroyo-Roman, 55, of New Haven was charged Tuesday with murder and tampering with evidence in the death of 35-year-old Naysha Mendez of New Haven, according to the New Haven Police Department.
Police obtained a warrant for his arrest after investigators turned up video surveillance footage from a number of different areas of the city that they believe tied him to Mendez's death, according to the warrant affidavit.
The investigation also led to an interview with Arroyo-Roman where he allegedly confessed to authorities that he killed Mendez over $700 that she owed him and also allegedly admitted to three more killings in Puerto Rico, police wrote in the affidavit.
According to the warrant affidavit, Mendez's body was found last Friday shortly before 8 p.m. when a man who regularly takes walks at Evergreen Cemetery called 911 and said he stumbled upon a naked woman with her throat slashed on one of the roads inside the cemetery. Police responded and found a woman with small lacerations on her chest and a laceration from below her waistline that traveled up her stomach to her chest, the warrant affidavit said. She also had deep lacerations to the right side of her face and the right side of her neck, with a pool of blood below her head, according to the warrant affidavit.
Medics who responded to the scene pronounced the woman dead at 8 p.m. and said she appeared to have been killed two to four hours earlier, the warrant affidavit said. She was later identified as Mendez. An autopsy confirmed her death was a homicide.
Police immediately contacted Mendez's fiancé who told investigators he had not seen her since around 4 p.m. and that her cell phone appeared to be off, the warrant affidavit said. He also told authorities she had become friends with a man named Edwin who was known to drive an older model gray Nissan SUV.
The fiancé did not know Edwin's last name, but police were able to identify him as Arroyo-Roman, the warrant affidavit said. He also told authorities he allegedly received a phone call four to five days prior from Arroyo-Roman's number and spoke to his son, who told him that Mendez needed to stay away from his father, according to the warrant affidavit.
'I told you to keep your wife away from my family, now you will have to deal with the consequences,' the son reportedly told him, the warrant affidavit said.
The fiancé also told authorities he had received a call a few months ago from Arroyo-Roman's daughter who allegedly threatened Mendez and told him she needed to stay away from her father, according to the warrant affidavit.
Throughout the investigation, police said the city's license plate reader system, as well as city cameras and private video surveillance systems, were instrumental in tying Arroryo-Roman to the killing, the warrant affidavit said. City cameras reportedly showed a Nissan Rogue, believed to be the one Arroyo-Roman uses to get around, entering Evergreen Cemetery at 5:26 p.m. the day Mendez's body was found, according to the warrant affidavit. Cameras also reportedly showed the vehicle leaving about 20 minutes later.
The vehicle was found around 10:10 p.m. the day after the killing parked in the driveway of Arroyo-Roman's residence on Spring Street, the warrant affidavit said. Police seized the vehicle and obtained a warrant to search it, reportedly finding a long serrated knife and scissors inside, according to the warrant affidavit.
The same day, investigators interviewed Arroyo-Roman's wife who alleged that she received a Ring doorbell notification around 9 a.m. the day Mendez was found dead, which showed Arroyo-Roman speaking to a woman she believed was Mendez, according to the warrant affidavit. She also alleged that she remembered him leaving in their Rogue around 5 p.m. that day and that she had 'a feeling' he was going to meet Mendez, police wrote.
During a subsequent interview, the wife told police she spoke to Arroyo-Roman through a FaceTime call in the afternoon hours, when she said he was at the cemetery cleaning the Rogue, the warrant affidavit said. She also claimed that he suffers from dementia and that she believed 'I'm afraid he went off with his dementia …,' investigators wrote.
During his first interview with investigators last Saturday, Arroyo-Roman allegedly gave conflicting statements and initially said he had not driven the Rogue that day, the warrant affidavit said. Police then confronted him with license plate reader data and video surveillance that they said showed the vehicle in the cemetery. Arroyo-Roman then allegedly admitted to being at the cemetery, which he said he uses as a 'cut through,' according to the warrant affidavit. When investigators asked how it could serve as a shortcut when the vehicle was seen entering and exiting the same way, he reportedly told police 'I don't know,' the warrant affidavit said.
Arroyo-Roman initially told police he spoke to Mendez the day of her death about money, but he insisted he did not see her, according to the warrant affidavit.
Days after the killing, the warrant affidavit said, police obtained video surveillance footage from Mendez's residence which showed her on the phone the day she was found dead asking someone 'Did you leave yet?' Shortly thereafter, she could be seen walking on Third Street in the direction of a Rogue that was headed in the same direction, the warrant affidavit said.
Surveillance footage from a business on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard showed what appeared to be Arroyo-Roman parking the Rogue at the Best Deli-Food Store, where he backed up to a dumpster and looked as though he was cleaning the vehicle, the warrant affidavit said. The footage was taken about five minutes after investigators believe he left the cemetery. A search of the dumpster reportedly turned up a blue rag and a blue knife, both of which were seized and sent to the state Forensic Science Laboratory.
The city's license plate reader system detected the Rogue in the area of Washington and Hurlburt Streets shortly before 7 p.m., the warrant affidavit said. Video surveillance from a nearby business appeared to show Arroyo-Roman parking along Hurlburt Street where he gets out of the vehicle and approaches an unidentified man who parked behind him in a silver SUV, police wrote. After walking to the passenger side of the SUV, Arroyo-Roman appears to return to the Rogue carrying a cardboard box which he places in the trunk, according to the warrant affidavit. He can then allegedly be seen stomping an object investigators believe was Mendez's cell phone.
Minutes later, video surveillance footage on Spring Street reportedly showed Arroyo-Roman getting out of a silver SUV and opening a trash can, the warrant affidavit said. He can then be seen throwing a black object in a residential yard and putting a plastic spray bottle on top of a trash can, police wrote.
Detectives obtained a search warrant for the trashcans and were given permission from a resident to search the yard, the warrant affidavit said. An iPhone with a cracked screen was found in the yard. In the trash cans, investigators reportedly found two empty methadone bottles with Mendez's name on them and two cleaning bottles, the warrant affidavit said.
On Tuesday, investigators interviewed Arroyo-Roman for a second time at the police department. He initially denied seeing Mendez or speaking to her the day she died before allegedly admitting that he picked her up on Hallock Avenue around the time surveillance captured her leaving her home, according to the warrant affidavit. At first, he told investigators he dropped her off nearby at a bodega before allegedly admitting that was not true, police wrote.
Arroyo-Roman conceded to authorities that he did crush Mendez's cell phone, but he said he only did so because he did not want his wife to find it, the warrant affidavit said. He also told police he had dementia and suffered two strokes years ago.
According to the warrant affidavit, Arroyo-Roman eventually agreed to be truthful with investigators and allegedly said Mendez had owed him $700. He said he had been asking her for the money, but she refused to pay him.
After picking her up and bringing her to the cemetery, Arroyo-Roman claimed that Mendez got out of the vehicle and allegedly started using heroin, the warrant affidavit said. He asked for his money, but she allegedly told him she did not have it. After telling her she needed to pay him back somehow, Arroyo-Roman said she allegedly began taking off her clothing and gave him a hug, police wrote.
According to the warrant affidavit, Arroyo-Roman admitted that as they were hugging he pulled out a knife and said 'you gotta pay me, you gotta pay me.' He then allegedly admitted to stabbing her in the back, at which point she fell to the ground, the warrant affidavit said. He allegedly admitted to jumping on top of her before he 'carved' her from her waist area up and slashed her throat, police wrote.
Arroyo-Roman allegedly told police there would be no blood in the vehicle, as the killing happened outside, the warrant affidavit said. He then claimed that he then drove away and threw the knife out the window before stopping on his way home to ditch the cell phone, investigators wrote. He said he took a shower and, the next day, cut up his clothing and threw it out the window as he drove around, according to the warrant affidavit. He also allegedly told police he 'slept well' after the killing, the warrant affidavit said.
According to the warrant affidavit, Arroyo-Roman stood up at the end of the interview and allegedly 'reenacted' the killing. He also allegedly admitted to killing three other people in Puerto Rico, authorities wrote.
Arroyo-Roman was arraigned in New Haven Superior Court following his arrest. He is being held in lieu of a $3 million bond and is due back in court on May 21, according to court records. He has not entered a plea, records show.
Police earlier this week said Mendez's death was isolated and not related to any other incidents in New Haven or anywhere else. Authorities in recent months have found human remains across Connecticut and New England but have said they do not appear to have any connection.