|
|
|
Cambridge —
Cambridge resident Marcos A. Colono was held on $1 million bail after allegedly raping a 11-year-old boy and stabbing his father with a knife in a Pearl Street apartment on Aug. 26. Investigators also tied him to the 2008 rape of two women in Brighton.
Colono, 32, was arrested last Thursday morning while walking in the Cambridgeport neighborhood where he is from not far from where the brutal bloodbath took place.
Colono’s lawyer pleaded not guilty on behalf of his client in Cambridge District Court on charges including two counts of rape on a child, armed assault to murder and home invasion.
Police have been searching for the suspect in the brutal Aug. 26 incident at 220 Pearl St. in which a masked man reportedly broke into a first floor apartment around 1 a.m. with a large butcher knife and attacked a man and his child.
Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Katharine Folger said Colono stacked the father and son on top of each other while he rummaged through the house for money. Colono then allegedly raped the boy at knifepoint while his father was forced to listen.
Police responded after the child called 911 and reportedly found the victims lying in a pool of blood in the apartment. There was blood on the doorknob of the apartment door as well.
“The apartment was a bloody mess,” said Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone.
“Today this man has a name, he has an identity and he’s behind bars,” said Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley at a press conference with Leone, Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Haas and other officials.
The 53-year-old dad, a researcher at Harvard’s Kennedy School, was reportedly stabbed eight to 10 times in the upper chest and neck and three times in his back, underwent surgery and was last reported to be in critical condition. According to Folger, doctors said the attacker tried to decapitate the father.
The 11-year-old son also suffered injuries and was later released from the hospital. The Chronicle does not identify the names of victims of sexual assaults or rapes.
The knife used in the assault was left behind — as well as a partial bloody fingerprint investigators say connects Colono to an unsolved home invasion in Brighton where two college-aged women were raped Sept. 21, 2008. Conley said DNA from the bloody print matched DNA left at the scene of the Brighton attack. Police also have other forensic evidence linking Colono to the Cambridge and Brighton crimes, prosecutors said.
Cambridge resident Marcos A. Colono was held on $1 million bail after allegedly raping a 11-year-old boy and stabbing his father with a knife in a Pearl Street apartment on Aug. 26. Investigators also tied him to the 2008 rape of two women in Brighton.
Colono, 32, was arrested last Thursday morning while walking in the Cambridgeport neighborhood where he is from not far from where the brutal bloodbath took place.
Colono’s lawyer pleaded not guilty on behalf of his client in Cambridge District Court on charges including two counts of rape on a child, armed assault to murder and home invasion.
Police have been searching for the suspect in the brutal Aug. 26 incident at 220 Pearl St. in which a masked man reportedly broke into a first floor apartment around 1 a.m. with a large butcher knife and attacked a man and his child.
Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Katharine Folger said Colono stacked the father and son on top of each other while he rummaged through the house for money. Colono then allegedly raped the boy at knifepoint while his father was forced to listen.
Police responded after the child called 911 and reportedly found the victims lying in a pool of blood in the apartment. There was blood on the doorknob of the apartment door as well.
“The apartment was a bloody mess,” said Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone.
“Today this man has a name, he has an identity and he’s behind bars,” said Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley at a press conference with Leone, Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Haas and other officials.
The 53-year-old dad, a researcher at Harvard’s Kennedy School, was reportedly stabbed eight to 10 times in the upper chest and neck and three times in his back, underwent surgery and was last reported to be in critical condition. According to Folger, doctors said the attacker tried to decapitate the father.
The 11-year-old son also suffered injuries and was later released from the hospital. The Chronicle does not identify the names of victims of sexual assaults or rapes.
The knife used in the assault was left behind — as well as a partial bloody fingerprint investigators say connects Colono to an unsolved home invasion in Brighton where two college-aged women were raped Sept. 21, 2008. Conley said DNA from the bloody print matched DNA left at the scene of the Brighton attack. Police also have other forensic evidence linking Colono to the Cambridge and Brighton crimes, prosecutors said.
Colono has not yet been charged with the Brighton incident, in which two women, then 18 and 23, were raped inside their 1325 Commonwealth Ave. apartment at about 8:45 p.m. It remains an active investigation, said Jake Wark from the Suffolk County DA’s office on Tuesday.
“We believe at this time there is no personal connection between the defendant and the 53-year-old man or his 11-year-old son. It looks to be a home invasion with no personal connection between those involved,” Leone said. “At this time, it’s unclear what the exact motivation was. Robbery may be a motivating factor.”
Colono’s 18-year-old brother Michael Colono was killed by Harvard student Alexander Pring-Wilson in a drunken stabbing in Cambridgeport in April 2003. Pring-Wilson pleaded guilty in January 2008 and received a two-year sentence in prison. He was freed Dec. 31, 2008.
Leone did not have an explanation and said it is a coincidence.
“My heart goes out to Ada Colono,” said E. Peter Parker, a lawyer for Pring-Wilson.
Colono’s mother and sister were present in court but did not speak last Thursday.
Defense attorney Benjamin Selman tried to argue for a lower bail calling the $1 million cash amount “excessive” based on his client’s personal history. He said Colono has no past convictions and only two minor offences on his record – shoplifting and assault and battery from more than a decade ago. He argued that one partial fingerprint is the only thing that links his client to the crime scenes with no other positive identification.
Judge Roanne Sragow said the bail amount is appropriate given the facts and the nature of crime in this case.
Colono will have to meet several requirements, including wearing a GPS bracelet and having no contact with children until his pre-trial hearing scheduled for Nov. 9, Sragow said.
Colono was born in and lived in Cambridge his whole life and has a 15-year-old son, Selman said. He attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin, dropped out in tenth grade but later earned his GED in 1994. He has been working in construction as a laborer. He has family and friends in the area and has no ties to any other community, Selman added.
-- David Harris contributed to this article.
