Updated 07/13/2009 04:03 PM
Man Denies Involvement In Missing Woman Case
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The lawyer for a man police have questioned about a missing Manhattan cleaning woman says his client went home sick before she even arrived for work.
Attorney Mario Galucci says Joseph Pabon was in police custody for 25 hours, but denies having anything to do with the disappearance of Eridania Rodriguez.
"We are extremely disappointed in the way he has been treated by the New York City Police Department," said Galucci. "The deputy police commissioner this morning, I read, said he's not a suspect in this crime, although they held him for 25 hours without food, without water, without the opportunity to use a restroom."
Galucci admits his client was previously charged with criminal mischief regarding an incident involving his girlfriend, but says the issue has been resolved.
Pabon works in the same Rector Street building where the 46-year-old Rodriguez was last seen on Tuesday. She went missing during her work shift.
A woman's body was found stuffed into an air conditioning duct at the building Saturday, and while it has not officially been identified as Rodriguez, investigators presume it is her.
The medical examiner's office says the victim was asphyxiated by tape applied to her head and face. Police say the woman's hands were tied behind her back, her feet were bound, and she had suffered a head wound.