Hartford police have arrested a suspect in a 2012 brutal homicide.
On Sept. 27, 2012, Hartford police found Sonia Rivera, a 48-year-old mother, on the ground behind 216 Washington Street after receiving a report that a woman was bleeding.
Police said she was partially naked, bleeding severely and had suffered head trauma.
Investigators found a brick nearby and suspected she had been hit with it,
Rivera was taken to Hartford Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on September 29. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled her death a homicide caused by blunt force trauma to the head.
Rivera’s kidneys, liver, lungs, small intestine and pancreas were donated to benefit four people. Her family said.
Police located DNA evidence at the scene and consulted with Dr. Henry Lee, the Forensic Science Department, Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Science, University of New Haven and the State Forensic Lab.
Detectives identified Denzil Nurse, 43, as a suspect.
He was wanted on unrelated burglary charges and arrested in connection with burglaries in May 2013, according to police and bond was set at $75,000. Nurse is still serving time in the Osborne Correctional Institution, police said.
Over the months to follow, detectives continued to work with the forensic labs.
On May 2, Hartford Police Major Crimes Homicide Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Nurse, charging him with the murder of Rivera.
Bond was set at $2 million.
Police said Nurse is a convicted felon with 29 previous arrested in Hartford.
Nurse will be served with the Murder warrant on his next court appearance.
