Man Extradited in 2001 Murder of Milford Woman

Twelve years after a Milford woman was strangled to death, her alleged killer was expected to appear in court Wednesday.

Luis A. Rodriguez, 53, faces murder and felony murder charges in the 2001 killing of 28-year-old Kelsey Monahon.

Twelve years ago, on May 25, Milford police said they responded to a report of an unresponsive female at 150A Shorefront St.

Monahon was discovered by her husband in their home with her feet and wrists tied together with rope, which also was tied around her neck, according to a statement by Milford police in 2011.

The cause of death was determined to be a homicide by strangulation, the statement said. Monahon was pregnant at the time of her death, according to a report in the Connecticut Post.

Milford police said they conducted more than 100 interviews before bringing charges against Rodriguez in 2011, when he was being held at the Federal Correctional Institute in Oklahoma on an unrelated federal conviction.

On Tuesday, Rodriguez was extradited to New York and taken into custody by Milford police. He was held in lieu of $2 million bond before being his expected arraignment this morning in court.

Milford police spokesman Jeff Nielsen said Wednesday that it's unclear what brought Rodriguez to Monahon's home in 2001. Nielsen could not say what, if any, relationship they had.

When the crime was committed, however, Police Chief Keith Mello told the Connecticut Post, "This was not random." 

If convicted, Rodriguez faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to the newspaper.