Charges official in serial killing case

Charges have been filed in the case of the Kensington Strangler, who police sources have said confessed to killing three women after he was taken into custody Monday.

Authorities had been waiting for the results of a second DNA swab taken from Antonio Rodriguez, 22, to confirm an initial test. The first DNA sample from Rodriguez taken after his release from prison more than two months ago allegedly linked him to the three murders. He had finished a short jail sentence for a felony drug conviction, but a backlog at the state police DNA lab meant an eight-week shelf life before his sample was eventually tested. The lab tested 22,000 samples last year.

Police caught Rodriguez on Monday in the 3300 block of Mutter Street thanks to a call from a tipster shortly after police identified Rodriguez as a person of interest at a 6 p.m. During his alleged confession, the serial killer suspect told police he did not set out to kill the women, but propositioned them for “rough sex,” sources said.

Rodriguez is charged with the murders of Elaine Goldberg, Nicole Piacentini and Casey Mahoney between Nov. 3 and Dec. 15. He is also charged with three counts of rape, deviant sexual intercourse and abuse of a corpse.