‘Kensington Strangler’ Antonio Rodriguez convicted of murder, sentenced to life

Antonio Rodriguez, the man referred to as the Kensington Strangler, is now officially a serial killer after being convicted today of brutally murdering three young women in late 2010.

Rodriguez, 23, will spend the rest of his life behind bars, sentenced to three consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole by Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey Minehart. Based on testimony during the trial, Rodriguez met each of his victims on the street and went to secluded locations where he had sex with them. In each case, during intercourse Rodriguez strangled the women from behind, then after they were dead positioned them in a kneeling position with their rear ends in the air and penetrated them again.

In sentencing Rodriguez, Minehart briefly summed up the gruesome nature of the murders. “This is just a horrific case. You not only violated these young women while they were alive, you violated them while they were dead,” Minehart said. “You didn’t even give them peace.”

As the sentence was announced, Rodriguez, who was talkative during the trial but did not testify in his defense, stood with his head down staring at the floor, swaying from side to side.

Minehart’s sentence followed emotional testimony from family members of the each of the victims – Elaine Goldberg, Nicole Piacentini, and Casey Mahoney – many of whom sat through the three-day proceeding.

“I’ll never be the same. I don’t even think about being the same because I know it’s not possible,” Joseph Goldberg, father of Elaine Golberg, told Minehart. “Life is not a joy for me anymore.”

Leo Keller, Piacentini’s stepfather, said the devastation of the loss has only started to hit him more recently, yet he said the family would move on. His parting words were to Rodriguez.

“Go in peace, Mr. Rodriguez. May God be with you ’cause I know he’s with me,” Keller said.

In addition to murder, Minehart found Rodriguez guilty of three counts of rape, deviate sexual intercourse and abuse of a corpse.

Before the trial, the District Attorney’s office agreed not to seek the death penalty in exchange for Rodriguez accepting a non-jury trial.