The long-unsolved case of a Bronx mom found murdered in her apartment as she prepared for a Thanksgiving party was cracked when her ex-boyfriend was cuffed in Ohio, police said.
James Devore, 54, from the city of Mansfield, was extradited to the Big Apple from the Buckeye State Wednesday and faces a second-degree murder charge in the Nov. 23, 2005 stabbing of 28-year-old Erica Robinson inside her Morris Heights apartment on Grand Avenue near Macombs Road, authorities said.
Devore was tracked down through DNA evidence, law enforcement sources said.
Robinson was knifed in the chest around 7:15 a.m. inside the one-bedroom unit and pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
Her then-12-year-old daughter found her lying in a pool of blood, authorities said at the time.
Robinson also lived with Devore’s then-15-year-old daughter inside the townhouse apartment.
A native of Columbus, Ohio, Robinson had moved away from her parents and two brothers to come to New York four years before her murder, The Post reported at the time.
Jerome Blount, the victim’s landlord, said at the time that Robinson – who worked as a security guard at a shelter for people with mental-health problems – had moved to his building the previous year from a homeless shelter.
“She was working hard to get her life together,” said Blount, 52. “She was making it, you know? I was really happy for her.”
He described the young victim as “a happy person” who was “jolly, nice and respectful.”
The night before the killing, Blount said he last saw Robinson come home carrying pots, pans and food to prepare a Thanksgiving feast for friends and family.
There was no sign of forced entry and no weapon was recovered, authorities said at the time.
“I think she knew her killer. I think the girls knew her killer,” Blount said then. “They had to.”
Devore’s arrest came about a week after investigators cracked another cold case in the Big Apple using DNA evidence.
Anthony Scalici, now 41, was linked to the brutal February 2009 murder of his 64-year-old uncle Rosario Prestigiacoma, 64, inside a home on Greene Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens – through a DNA sample from a fork he used at a Florida restaurant, according to prosecutors and sources.
Scalici, who was living in Boynton Beach, was extradited to the Big Apple Wednesday evening and charged with second-degree murder in the case, the Queens DA’s Office said.
