New York Woman Helps Track Down Suspect in Father's Killing

Daniel Rodriguez, 45, now faces charges of murder and assault.
Daniel Rodriguez, 45, now faces charges of murder and assault.NYPD

Jennifer Espinal says she tracked down surveillance video of her father's attack.

A New York daughter took it upon herself to investigate her father's murder, she says. Jennifer Espinal canvassed her dad's Queens neighborhood after 76-year-old Jorge Cornejo was found dying in the street last month with a massive head injury.

Paramedics initially believed he had fallen, she said.

Espinal told WABC-TV nearby residents said her father had been attacked, but when she tried to report that to a police lieutenant, she wasn't taken seriously. "He didn't even care, my dad to him was nothing, but to us, my dad was everything, he mattered," she told the station.

The cop, she said, told her to find evidence her father was attacked. So she did.

She canvassed the neighborhood, passing out fliers seeking information. Eventually, she located surveillance footage of her dad's killing, she said.

She took that to the NYPD, and an investigation was opened. On Tuesday, after witnesses recognized a man seen on the video footage, Daniel Rodriguez, 45 was arrested on murder and assault charges, according to authorities.

The NYPD is investigating Espinal's complaint about the lieutenant.

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