Here's how Port of NY and NJ bridges are protected from cargo ship collisions
COURTS

Rahway man sentenced for strangling girlfriend nearby sleeping son

Nick Muscavage
Courier News and Home News Tribune
Ignacio Ortiz Vasquez, the Rahway man who admitted to strangling his girlfriend while their young son was sleeping nearby, was sentenced to 47 years in prison on Friday.

ELIZABETH - A Rahway man who admitted to strangling his girlfriend while their young son was sleeping nearby was sentenced to 47 years in prison on Friday.

Ignacio Ortiz Vasquez, 42, strangled his girlfriend, Yuri Cruz, in 2015. Cruz was 27 years old when she died. Vasquez's sentence was announced by acting Union County Prosecutor Michael Monahan.

Vasquez was ordered to serve a minimum of 85 percent of a 40-year sentence for murder before beginning a seven-year sentence for endangering the welfare of a child under the terms set down Friday by state Superior Court Judge Lisa Miralles Walsh.

READ:Rahway man admits strangling girlfriend with sleeping child nearby

READ:2 Linden men charged in Rahway shooting

On Sept. 12, 2015, Rahway Police Department patrol units responded to the 900 block of Jacques Avenue shortly after 2:30 a.m. on to find the body of Cruz, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutor Melissa Spagnoli, who prosecuted the case. Cruz was pronounced dead at the scene shortly thereafter.

A joint investigation by the Union County Homicide Task Force and the Rahway Police Department, assisted by the Union County Sheriff’s Office Identification Unit, revealed that Vasquez had strangled Cruz in her bed as she slept, just feet away from where their young son was also sleeping, Spagnoli said. Vasquez then left the scene.

Vasquez was arrested later that day and lodged in Union County Jail on $1 million bail.

He pleaded guilty to murder and endangering in April 2018, just days before jury selection was scheduled to begin for his trial.

The victim’s brother and father read statements into the record during Friday’s sentencing.

Staff Writer Nick Muscavage: 908-243-6615; ngmuscavage@gannettnj.com