Wall Street Skyscraper Murder Case

NEW YORK - A handyman at a skyscraper near the World Trade Center pleaded not guilty to charges he murdered a cleaning woman and hid her body in the tower's ventilation system.

Prosecutors say Joseph Pabon, 25, snatched the woman on July 7 as she worked on an empty floor in the 26-story office building. They say he smothered her with tape, hid her body in an air conditioning shaft, and then told his manager he was ill and went home.

The victim, Eridania Rodriguez, 46, was reported missing within hours of her disappearance, but her corpse was hidden so well it took police searchers four days to find her.

A Manhattan judge ordered Pabon held without bail at his arraignment Saturday.

The police said that when they questioned Pabon about his missing co-worker, he had scratches on his torso, head and neck and bruising on his arms. Bits of flesh containing his DNA were later found beneath the victim's fingernails, police said.

Pabon's lawyer, Mario Gallucci, said his client is innocent.

"He got the scratches either doing yard work or moving," he said.

Gallucci called the test results from the DNA samples inconclusive.

Pabon was arrested Friday evening after the DNA tests were complete. Police had been trailing him for a week and news photographers were on hand to record his arrest at gunpoint.

Pabon has previously been arrested on charges that he choked his girlfriend and threw a bowling ball through her car window in a fit of rage.

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