Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey and Director Anthony A. Caputo of the New Brunswick Police Department announced today that a 38-year old woman has died after being shot last week.
Desiree Alvarado of New Brunswick was pronounced dead yesterday at 5:20 p.m. at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where she was taken after being shot on July 14, 2017.
The results of an autopsy by the Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office stated the cause of death as complications due to a gunshot wound to the neck, manner is homicide.
The charges against Christian Cortes, 25, of North Brunswick have been upgraded; he now faces one count of murder in the first degree, in addition to the one count of unlawful possession of a weapon in the second degree and one count of possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes in the second degree that he was originally charged with for the July 14, 2017 shooting.
An investigation by Detective Erica DiMarcello of the New Brunswick Police Department and Detective Craig Marchak of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office determined that Cortes shot the woman on Seventh Street between Livingston and Joyce Kilmer Avenues in New Brunswick on July 14, at approximately 10:30am.
Cortes continues to be held at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center.
The investigation is active and continuing.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Erica DiMarcello of the New Brunswick Police Department at (732) 745-5200, or Detective Craig Marchak of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at (732) 745-3254.
As is the case with all criminal defendants, the charges against Cortes are merely accusations and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
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