Dominican Republic national accused of stabbing ex to death dragged out of NYC court as it’s revealed he was deported in 2002
A Dominic Republican national accused of fatally knifing his ex-girlfriend was dragged out of a Manhattan court Tuesday as prosecutors revealed gory new details of the case – and said the suspect was previously deported in 2002.
Candido Rodriguez, 51, had to be restrained after claiming he was innocent in the murder of victim Melanie Woods, his 33-year-old on-again, off-again lover who prosecutors said he viciously stabbed to death before ditching her body in the bathtub of her East Harlem home last month.
“I promise I didn’t do anything to her,” he yelled through tears at nine family members of Woods who were sitting in the courtroom.
“I loved her, I didn’t do anything to her.”
As the allegations against Rodriguez were read, he also yelled out in Spanish “that’s a lie, that’s a lie.”
Rodriguez, who has a criminal history, allegedly stabbed the 33-year-old Columbia University grad in her torso and neck 19 times – so ferociously that her stomach suffered 6-inch deep wounds, Assistant District Attorney Marcella Lupski said.
Rodriguez and Woods, who worked for the city’s Health and Hospitals, had dated since about early 2023 before the breakup, she said.
She dumped him two weeks before he killed her, prosecutors said.
The morning of the murder, Rodriguez went to Woods’ apartment while she was walking her dog shortly after 7 a.m.
When she returned, neighbors in the building heard “crashes and screams” for at least 30 minutes, Lupski said.
Then neighbors heard someone walk down the stairs and leave the building, she said.
Woods was found dead 10 hours after a concerned friend asked cops to check on her, according to officials.
But an agitated Rodriguez claimed in court during his arraignment he was innocent as he pleaded not guilty to a second-degree murder charge.
Rodriguez, who was red in the face, became so disruptive he had to be forcefully picked up by several court officers and taken away in the middle of arraignment as he dropped his body to the floor.
“Mr. Rodriguez became highly, highly agitated, violent, disruptive and would not permit the prosecutor to continue speaking. He was screaming over and over again in Spanish words which I was told ‘I didn’t do it or I’m not guilty,’” said Judge Ann Scherzer.
The alleged killer previously faced a federal conspiracy to distribute narcotics case between 1999 and 2002 and was removed from the US in 2002, Lupski said.
She said Rodriguez has used multiple aliases in different encounters with authorities in the past.
His defense lawyer, Jessica Horani, said she plans on requesting a mental fitness exam for her client.
“I observed him getting very overwrought and emotional. I don’t believe that he has full control of his faculties at this time,” Horani said.
“And this has been something that I have noticed since first meeting him at criminal court arraignment and what appears to be a significant decompensation.”
His next court date is July 16.
