During his brief court appearance Tuesday, a New Britain man accused of killing three Hartford teens in the 1980s tried to address the court but was advised not to speak.
Pedro Miranda, 51, is accused of killing Rosa Valentin, 16, Mayra Cruz, 13, and Carmen Lopez, 17 and faces capital felony and murder charges. His attorneys advised him not to speak.
Miguel Roman, 52, has spent 20 years in prison for Lopez's murder and will in Hartford Superior Court on Friday.
Miranda is being held on more than $7 million bond. He'll be back in court on Jan. 27. His lawyers expect he'll plead not guilty.
The Cold Case Unit started investigating in July 2008 after the Connecticut Innocence Project of the State of Connecticut Division of Public Defender Services brought new information about the murders to Office of the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Hartford.
The victims:
- Rosa Valentin, 16, was last seen alive in Miranda’s car on July 26, 1986. Her body has never been found and she is presumed dead, according to the state Division of Criminal Justice.
- Mayra Cruz, 13, was reported missing when she did not return home from school in Hartford on Oct. 8, 1987. Her body was found in a wooded area in East Windsor on Nov. 8, 1987.
- Carmen Lopez’s relatives last heard from her on Jan. 2, 1988. She was found strangled on Jan. 5, 1988, in an apartment on Nelton Court in Hartford.
- Miranda was convicted in the May 29, 1998, sexual assault of a 24-year-old woman in West Hartford and was required to register on the State of Connecticut Sex Offender Registry.
