Police Probing Immigration Status of Suspect in Marcotte Murder

LEOMINSTER, MA -- Investigators are still probing the immigration status of Angel Colon-Ortiz as the Worcester man prepares to face a judge on Tuesday in the murder of Vanessa Marcotte killed last year while jogging in Princeton, the Boston Herald reports.

State Police Spokesman David Procopio told the Boston Herald that based on information collected so far the suspect's real name is Colon-Ortiz, however, police are still checking to see if he is in the United States legally.

Officials have been in touch with Homeland Security Investigations and they have no file on Colon-Ortiz, Procopio told the Herald.

Colon-Ortiz, 31, will be arraigned in Leominster District Court on Tuesday charged with aggravated assault and battery, and assault with intent to rape. Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. has indicated that Colon-Ortiz would be charged with the 27-year-old New York woman's Aug. 7 in woods near her mother's Princeton hom.

Her body was found naked with burn marks on her body. Police say Marcotte fought her attacker and as a result some of his DNA was on her hands. Authorities used the DNA to create a profile of a "person of interest.''

An alert State Police trooper thought he spotted a man who matched the profile and wrote the man's license plate on his hand.

Colon-Ortiz was arrested on Friday after an oral swab from his mouth matched the DNA take from Marcotte's hands.

For more on this story read the Boston Herald.

Courtesy photo of Vanessa Marcotte.