Major Chris Smith of the Livingston County Sheriff's Office, District Attorney Tom Moran, Mount Morris Police Chief Gary Benedict and Major James Szczesniak at Monday's press conference. Photo by Michael Johnson.
MOUNT MORRIS, NY — Mount Morris Police Chief believes the stabbing of 40-year-old Sonia Valera is the first murder in his village in at least 20 years.
Benedict, along with Livingston County Sheriff’s investigators and District Attorney Tom Moran held a press conference Monday night to lay out more details in an ongoing murder investigation.
Mount Morris police were called to a trailer at 322 Patio Lane at 5:22 a.m. Monday morning by Valera’s mother. Officer Ricky Garwood found Valera dead in her bedroom with multiple stab wounds.
Monday afternoon at 3 p.m., Agustin Lebron-Morales, 50, also of 322 Patio Lane, walked into Highland Hospital in Rochester covered in blood and asking that someone help him contact the police. Hospital staff put him in touch with the Monroe County Office of Emergency Communications, which dispatched city police to Highland. Lebron-Morales was taken into custody without incident.
The suspect has been arraigned in Mount Morris Village Court and taken to county jail without bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 27 at 10 a.m.
See complete story Tuesday morning in the Livingston County News.
