NORTHAMPTON — Chelsea Rodriguez, the final defendant to be arraigned in connection with the March 10 killing of Daniel Cruz, had her bail set at $100,000 cash or surety on Monday.

Rodriguez, 22, of Northampton, was extradited to Massachusetts from Florida on Thursday and was arraigned Friday in Hampshire Superior Court before Judge Daniel Ford.

Rodriguez has been indicted on charges of accessory after the fact to murder, burning personal property, two counts of conspiracy, two counts of withholding evidence from a criminal proceeding and improper disposition of a human body.

The bail hearing took place Monday morning with Ford presiding, and the prosecution revealed new details about what allegedly happened after Cruz’s death.

The commonwealth alleges that on March 10, at the Meadowbrook Apartments in Northampton, Daniel Cruz, 44, of Northampton, got into an altercation with Pedro Soto-Rodriguez, 21, of Northampton. According to prosecutors, Nerkin Omar Morales, 22, intervened in the argument with a firearm, shooting Cruz three times and killing him. The two men then allegedly enlisted the help of a group of people to cover up the crime and took Cruz’s body out to Hatfield that evening to burn it.

In court Monday, Northwestern Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Suhl said that prior to moving the body to Hatfield, the group left Meadowbrook to avoid a police response, and traveled to Connecticut where Soto-Rodriguez received medical treatment from his mother for an injury. Suhl also said that the group had originally planned to dismember Cruz’s body and that machetes were purchased for that purpose.

She said Cruz’s body was initially wrapped in a sleeping bag and stored in a closet while the group was away.

Suhl alleged that Chelsea Rodriguez was the individual who set Cruz’s body aflame and that Rodriguez also burned his bloody clothes outside of her apartment.

After the burning, Suhl said, the group went to a hotel in West Springfield where they partied. Next day, according to Suhl, Rodriguez’s boyfriend picked her up and took her to North Carolina, where he had a residence. Suhl said that although Rodriguez had given 30 days notice to leave Meadowbrook Apartments and was planning to move to North Carolina, Cruz’s killing expedited these plans.

“She left and never returned to Massachusetts until she was extradited a few days ago,” Suhl said in court.

Suhl said Rodriguez then moved from North Carolina to DeLand, Florida, where her mother lives, around mid-July, and that when investigators flew to North Carolina to speak with her at the end of July, they were informed that Rodriguez and her boyfriend had left for Oregon to care for his sick mother. Suhl asserted that the Oregon story was a ruse to throw off investigators.

Rodriguez had obtained Section 8 housing in Florida and was working at a McDonald’s when she was arrested on Dec. 6, according to Suhl, who also said that Rodriguez allegedly told individuals at the McDonald’s that she’d been indicted in relation to a killing in Massachusetts.

At the bail hearing, Suhl requested that the $250,000 cash bail that was set at Rodriguez’s arraignment without prejudice stay in place. She noted that Rodriguez had left the state after Cruz’s slaying, and she also claimed that a prominent Boston attorney had contacted her office and told her that family of Rodriguez in New York had contacted him about taking the case. She suggested this was evidence that Rodriguez might have access to money.

“A significant amount of bail is essential to ensure her appearance in this court,” Suhl said.

She also argued against Rodriguez being allowed to reside in Glens Falls, New York, with her father, noting that the GPS monitoring condition could not be met if she was in New York. Suhl also said she didn’t know anything about Rodriguez’s father.

Rodriguez’s court-appointed attorney, Marissa Elkins, said the family did not have significant resources, and requested that she be released on personal recognizance or that her bail be no more than $2,000 cash, the amount she said the family was able to pay. In arguing for Rodriguez to be able to live with her father, Elkins said that although she had relatives in the area, her father had a room where she could stay.

“It’s not an imposition,” Elkins said.

Additionally, Elkins argued that having Rodriguez stay in New York would help keep her from other witnesses in the case.

Elkins noted Rodriguez’s lack of a criminal record, and said Rodriguez left her boyfriend’s North Carolina residence because he had a heroin addiction.

Elkins also said that Rodriguez became a mother at 16, that the child is with her father, and that she has worked consistently since high school.

“She will come to court,” said Elkins.

She also said that Rodriguez was making an effort to return to Massachusetts at the time of her arrest, had been in contact with her father about the situation, and that a lack of resources contributed to her not returning to the state.

In the end, Ford ruled that bail was appropriate and set it at $100,000 cash or surety. However, he said that if bail is posted, probation could look into the feasibility of Rodriguez staying with her father.

Rodriguez is scheduled to be back in court for a pre-trial hearing on June 10 at 2 p.m.

Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.]]>