“Where high technology failed, old-fashioned detective work carried the day.”
By Ryan Haggerty and Kathy McCabe
Boston Globe
WINTHROP, Mass. — After an intense six-month investigation, authorities announced yesterday that they are searching for a 27-year-old Winthrop woman who has been charged in a New Year’s Eve hit-and-run accident that left a 61-year-old Revere man dead.
A Suffolk County grand jury on Thursday indicted Milena Johana Henao Giraldo, charging her with motor vehicle homicide and leaving the scene of an accident.
Giraldo allegedly struck George Azarian as he was crossing a busy intersection at Revere Beach at noon, according to the Suffolk County district attorney’s office.
Azarian was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Giraldo has not been seen since Feb. 7, when State Police homicide detectives made her the focus of their investigation.
“George Azarian was left to die alone in a crosswalk,” Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in a statement yesterday. “He deserved better.”
The indictments cap an investigation that began with video footage of the accident captured by a city surveillance camera mounted on a building. The footage captured the make, model, and color of the car -- a silver Dodge Intrepid -- but not its license plate number.
From there, an extensive probe was launched that spanned three cities and involved door-to-door searches based on a list of at least 100 car owners.
Azarian was on his way home from Bagel Bin Deli, where he had breakfast every day -- usually two helpings of eggs over-easy, said his friend Louis Padova in a telephone interview last night -- when he was hit while crossing Ocean Avenue at the Shirley Avenue crosswalk.
Azarian, who was mentally disabled, had lived in an apartment above the Shipwreck, a Revere Beach bar owned by Padova, for the past 15 years, since his mother died, Padova said.
“Before his mother died, she said to me, ‘Take care of my Georgie. ' So I made sure of it,” said Padova, who planned Azarian’s funeral in January.
After reviewing the surveillance tape, investigators put together a list of all silver Dodge Intrepids made between 1994 and 2004 registered to people in Revere, Chelsea, and Winthrop, and then began interviewing those people one by one, according to the attorney general’s office.
“Where high technology failed, old-fashioned detective work carried the day,” Conley said in his statement. “For weeks on end, State Police detectives canvassed three cities and towns to find this vehicle and its driver.”
The Revere and Winthrop police departments also assisted in the investigation.
On Feb. 7, State Police homicide detectives visited the home of a Winthrop woman with an Intrepid registered in her name, according to the district attorney’s office. The detectives spoke with the woman’s daughter, a friend of Giraldo, who was also present at the time.
The daughter told the detectives the car was at an East Boston garage having its speedometer repaired, according to the district attorney’s office. When the detectives arrived at Day Square Auto Repair, however, they learned that two women had dropped off the car on Feb. 1 and that its windshield, right headlight, and hood were being repaired.
Detectives retrieved the car’s damaged parts from a Dumpster at the garage, according to the district attorney’s office.
Forensic tests later determined the damage was consistent with the accident caught on tape, according to the district attorney’s office.
After visiting the garage, the homicide detectives returned to the Winthrop home, where they spoke with the husband of the registered owner, according to the district attorney’s office.
He told the detectives that his wife had registered the car to help Giraldo save money on her car insurance.
Meanwhile, investigators discovered that Giraldo had become “visibly anxious” to retrieve the car from the East Boston garage after the detectives left the Winthrop home and that she and two friends had taken a cab to the garage. The friends waited in the cab while Giraldo went across the street to pick up the car.
Giraldo never returned, however, and she has not been seen since.
Prosecutors from the district attorney’s office say they are pursuing leads in the case, and Azarian’s friends are preparing to help in the search for Giraldo.
Padova said he would like to put Giraldo’s photo on posters and distribute them to restaurants in Revere, Chelsea, and Winthrop. “I’ll do what I can to help find her,” he said. “Everyone loved Georgie.”
Copyright 2007 Boston Globe