A Rochester man pleaded no contest to third-degree murder and kidnapping charges in the strangling death of his wife more than 14 years ago.
Theodore John Solano, 49, entered the no-contest pleas Friday, ending a case that started in December 1993, when hunters found the body of his wife in South Middleton Township, Cumberland County.
The body of Natalia Andreevna Miller, an 18-year-old Russian immigrant who had married Solano six months earlier so she could stay in the United States, was found strangled and partially clothed.
Solano told Cumberland County Judge Edgar Bayley that he had “deep remorse” in his heart and that “the person who now stands before you is most certainly not the person I used to be inside.”
He told the judge of his career as a contractor on government buildings in the Washington, D.C., area and spoke of how he found God in prison.
“All that being said, I'm about to sentence you to as despicable and heinous a crime as I've ever seen in my career,” Bayley said before sentencing Solano to 17 to 40 years in state prison.
Miller's body, clothed only in a sweater, was found in 1993 but wasn't identified until 2004, when DNA collected from the body was matched to Solano. He has criminal convictions in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York and was required to register for sexual offenses committed against a child in Maryland, police say.
Authorities initially had trouble locating Solano but caught up with him in Canon City, Colo. At about the same time, authorities searching his home in Rochester found an old photo album containing approximately 40 pictures of Solano and Miller.
Miller's mother, Olga Shugar, and sister, Vera, traveled from Russia to attend Friday's hearing.
“I feel that at last I'm finding the end,” said Olga Shugar, who described the circumstances of her daughter's death as a “very long, terrible story.”
In the weeks after her daughter disappeared, Olga Shugar said she called Solano and asked if he would contact police to look for the girl. He always said “Yes ma'am,” Shugar said, but when she asked if he had called authorities, the answer was always “No, ma'am.”
Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed said there was no record of anyone having reported the girl's disappearance to authorities.
Pennsylvania law dictates that sentencing be consistent with standards at the time of the crime. Solano would receive only a 10- to 17-year prison sentence for the murder charge under 1993 standards, so prosecutors insisted that the kidnapping charge be part of the plea deal, Freed said.
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Information from: The Sentinel, http://www.cumberlink.com
AP-ES-01-05-08 1304EST
The body of Natalia Andreevna Miller, an 18-year-old Russian immigrant who had married Solano six months earlier so she could stay in the United States, was found strangled and partially clothed.
Solano told Cumberland County Judge Edgar Bayley that he had “deep remorse” in his heart and that “the person who now stands before you is most certainly not the person I used to be inside.”
He told the judge of his career as a contractor on government buildings in the Washington, D.C., area and spoke of how he found God in prison.
“All that being said, I'm about to sentence you to as despicable and heinous a crime as I've ever seen in my career,” Bayley said before sentencing Solano to 17 to 40 years in state prison.
Miller's body, clothed only in a sweater, was found in 1993 but wasn't identified until 2004, when DNA collected from the body was matched to Solano. He has criminal convictions in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York and was required to register for sexual offenses committed against a child in Maryland, police say.
Authorities initially had trouble locating Solano but caught up with him in Canon City, Colo. At about the same time, authorities searching his home in Rochester found an old photo album containing approximately 40 pictures of Solano and Miller.
Miller's mother, Olga Shugar, and sister, Vera, traveled from Russia to attend Friday's hearing.
“I feel that at last I'm finding the end,” said Olga Shugar, who described the circumstances of her daughter's death as a “very long, terrible story.”
In the weeks after her daughter disappeared, Olga Shugar said she called Solano and asked if he would contact police to look for the girl. He always said “Yes ma'am,” Shugar said, but when she asked if he had called authorities, the answer was always “No, ma'am.”
Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed said there was no record of anyone having reported the girl's disappearance to authorities.
Pennsylvania law dictates that sentencing be consistent with standards at the time of the crime. Solano would receive only a 10- to 17-year prison sentence for the murder charge under 1993 standards, so prosecutors insisted that the kidnapping charge be part of the plea deal, Freed said.
---
Information from: The Sentinel, http://www.cumberlink.com
AP-ES-01-05-08 1304EST
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