Cold case of Bronx mother killed finally cracked after nearly 20 years
James DeVore, 54, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and other charges.
The cold case murder of a Bronx mother who was killed has been solved after nearly two decades.
The victim, 29-year-old Erica Robertson, was killed in 2005 the morning before Thanksgiving. Robertson's daughter was staying in the home the night before the incident took place and was the one who found her mother dead.
Robertson was discovered with a single stab wound to her chest inside of her Grant Avenue home.
James DeVore, 54, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
Police say that DeVore attacked the victim in her home. Investigators say DeVore and Robertson had previously been in an intimate relationship but broke up one year before she was killed.
At the time of the crime, police did not have enough evidence to charge DeVore – but that all changed after the cold case was reopened in 2020.
In 2022, the victim's nails were located, tested, and compared to evidence in the case. Male DNA was revealed on those nails - the same DNA that was found on a cigarette butt.
That match in DNA is how police were able to tie DeVore to this murder and extradite him from Mansfield, Ohio to the Bronx.
"My son called and told me that they heard something upstairs, like a big boom like a refrigerator, I got home and police were everywhere," said Jerome, the former landlord of the building.
Investigators say that the case took this long due to the technology to analyze DNA not being available back when the crime took place.
