NEW YORK (TCD) — DNA from a fork in Florida linked a 41-year-old man to a cold case in New York in which his 64-year-old uncle was found at home stabbed several times all over his body.
The Queens District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday, May 30, that Anthony Scalici was charged with second-degree murder for allegedly killing Rosario Prestigiacomo in 2009.
On Feb. 10, 2009, at 2:15 p.m., New York Police Department officers responded to Prestigiacomo’s residence in the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens after a neighbor reported “hearing a disturbance.” An officer went into the home via a first-floor window and discovered Prestigiacomo deceased “in a pool of blood” in his hallway.
The district attorney’s office said Prestigiacomo was stabbed 16 times, including in the face, neck, and torso. His lung, esophagus, chest, and lower abdomen sustained puncture wounds, and he also had blunt force injuries on multiple parts of his body.
Detectives collected evidence at the scene and learned the blood found in the apartment matched Prestigiacomo’s and that of an unidentified male. This led investigators to conclude the suspect got injured during the attack and was bleeding. NYPD detectives submitted the unknown man’s DNA to different databases, but nothing came back as a match and the case eventually went cold.
Then, in March 2022, the district attorney’s office sent the DNA sample to genetic genealogy company Othram Inc. for Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing. Scientists created a genealogical profile of the suspect, who was later identified as Scalici. Scalici is the son of Prestigiacomo’s ex-wife’s brother.
Investigators traced Scalici to Boynton Beach, Florida, and conducted surveillance on him in January and February 2024. They tried to find a discarded DNA sample and were ultimately able to obtain a fork he threw out. Othram said the DNA from the fork matched the blood evidence as well as other DNA samples taken from Prestigiacomo’s fingernails.
U.S. Marshals, the Boynton Beach Police Department, and the NYPD Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested Scalici on May 14, and he was extradited back to New York on May 29.
According to the district attorney’s office, Scalici’s arrest was the first time investigators in New York City utilized forensic genetic genealogy technology to identify and arrest a homicide suspect.