A Millville man charged with sexually assaulting a woman found dead in Wildwood nearly 33 years ago has been released from jail after an appellate panel ruled the statute of limitations has long passed.
Susan Negersmith's body was found May 27, 1990, partially clothed in a rear storage area next to a Wildwood restaurant. Two employees from Schellenger’s Restaurant found her body.
The 20-year-old Carmel, N.Y., woman arrived in Wildwood a day earlier to celebrate the end of her sophomore year with five friends.
“Countless law enforcement professionals and prosecutors have worked on resolving this case over the last 32 years and their collective dedicated effort, in conjunction with the improvements in DNA Technology and Genetic Genealogy Analysis, has led to this long overdue arrest," Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland said after Rosado's arrest April 8.
No one has been charged with killing Negersmith.
Rosado moved to dismiss the complaint in May, arguing the five-year statute of limitations expired May 27, 1995.
The state asserted that the clock did not begin ticking until May 26, 2021, when detectives obtained buccal swabs from the defendant.
That argument relied upon a Jan. 3, 2002, amendment that the statute of limitations for prosecutions
supported by DNA evidence does not begin to run until the state possesses both the physical evidence and the DNA or fingerprint evidence necessary to establish the identity of the actor.
The lower court agreed.
But the the appellate panel found that the 2002 amendment did not pertain to cases where the statute of limitations had already expired.
The panel sent the case back to Cape May on Wednesday granting the defendant's motion and dismissing the criminal charge with prejudice, meaning the charge cannot be brought against Rosado again.
He was released from the jail Thursday afternoon, jail records show, after just less than a year behind bars.
