A convicted Pennsylvania killer who strangled his common-law wife and tossed her body in a dumpster was arrested today in the savage 1998 slaying of a 14-year-old Bronx girl, The Post has learned.
James David Martin, 40, was charged with murder, rape and sodomy in the tragic death of Marleny Cruz after cops got a DNA match from scrapings underneath the teen’s fingernails, said Bronx Homicide Detective Malcolm Reiman.
“In December, I received a match for the DNA, which is when I went down and I spoke with him and he made incriminating statements,” Reiman said.
The veteran investigator added that Martin has already been indicted by a Bronx grand jury.
Sources said Martin accosted Cruz as she was walking along a Fordham street.
The sicko then lured her to a desolate area, where he raped and brutally beat her before strangling her to death, sources said.
Her battered body was discovered in a park on February 23, 1998.
Cruz was known to be a chronic runaway who was prone to suicide and living in foster care at the time, sources said.
Martin is no stranger to the legal system.
In 1989, Martin was just 17 when he was charged with strangling and sexually assaulting 15-year-old Michael Thomas in Maryland for a pair of Nike Air Jordans.
Strangely, Martin was wearing the pricey sneakers, which didn’t fit him, upon his capture.
His case was heard in federal court because the murder was committed on federal property. He was charged with second degree murder, but pled guilty to manslaughter.
In 1996, he was sprung from federal prison.
Several years later in 2005, he viciously strangled his live-in girlfriend, Cecilia Santiago, 30.
He then threw her body into a commercial trash bin in Liberty Center in Allentown, PA.