Child abandoned in New York murder case

NEW YORK — A Queens man was charged yesterday with murdering his live-in girlfriend, a week after the woman's 4-year-old daughter was found walking down a street alone in the middle of the night, police said.

Cesar Ascarrunz, 32, was arrested on murder charges two days after he was picked up by investigators, police said. Authorities were searching yesterday for the remains of Monica Lozada-Rivaineira, 26.

Ascarrunz, a Bolivian doctor who relatives said came to this country last year to seek U.S. medical credentials, told investigators in a videotaped confession that he strangled Lozada-Rivaineira last weekend during a dispute in the apartment they shared, police said.

More than a dozen tips came in to police after child-welfare officials took the unusual step of putting the child, Valery Lozada, on TV on Thursday, in the hopes it would produce more information. In the appearance, Valery described her mother as looking "like a princess."

Lozada-Rivaineira was last seen at the apartment Sept. 24, at 11:45 p.m., authorities said. About an hour later, Valery was found on a Queens street. The girl told authorities she had two fathers, one of whom dropped her off on the street. She remained in foster care yesterday. Her biological father has not been found.

Ascarrunz also was charged with reckless endangerment, endangering the welfare of a child, child abandonment and evidence tampering.

Material from The New York Times is included in this report.