Defendant’s DNA Was Taken In 2016 Arrest And Matched To Evidence on Victim
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Bronx man has been
indicted on murder and rape charges for the 1999 killing of his neighbor.
District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant allegedly stabbed the victim repeatedly and
raped her in her apartment, in the same building in which he lived. After two decades he was
finally brought to justice when his DNA was taken after a minor arrest and it matched
evidence from the crime scene. Victims of such atrocious crimes will never be forgotten, no
matter how long it takes to get the perpetrator.”
District Attorney Clark said that Curtis Batchelor, 41, of the Bronx, was charged with
first-degree Murder, two counts of second-degree Murder, and first-degree Rape. He was
arraigned today before Bronx Supreme Court Justice William Mogulescu and is due back in
court on April 13, 2017.
According to the investigation, on or about and between May 25, 1999 and May 27,
1999, in 825 Gerard Avenue, Batchelor stabbed Elsa Grullon multiple times in the neck and
chest, in the course of raping her.
Batchelor was arrested in January, 2016, and his DNA was taken. In March, 2016, the
DNA was found to match semen recovered from the victim’s body. Further investigation led
to the arrest of Batchelor on Feb. 27, 2017.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Michael Schordine and
Morgan Dolan, under the supervision of Christine Scaccia, Chief of the Homicide Bureau, and
the overall supervision of Nicole Keary, Deputy Chief of the Trial Division and Jeremy
Shockett, Chief of the Trial Division.
An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.
