Serial rapist from Bayonne sentenced to 35 years in prison during emotional hearing

Published: Friday, August 06, 2010, 12:35 PM Updated: Friday, August 06, 2010, 12:53 PM
Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal

A serial rapist who sexually and physically assaulted women in Jersey City, Bayonne and Newark was sentenced this morning to 35 years in prison.

In an emotional hearing in state Superior Court in Jersey City, two of Nealson Connell's devastated victims
watched as he was given the maximum sentence under his plea deal.

Statements from three victims were read and the fourth woman spoke directly to the court of the horrors they endured and the lasting effects of the crimes.

"I can still feel the repeated bashing of a rock against my face," one woman wrote in a letter read at the sentencing. "As I pleaded for my life and said, 'I can't breathe,' he hit me again and I thought I was going to die."

Connell, 35, a powerfully built man with a prior criminal record involving drug charges, stood beside his attorney with his hands cuffed and stared at the defense table as the victims' horrors were retold.

Judge Joseph Isabella noted one victim's statement of the damage to "my soul, my life, my future" before meting out the sentence putting Connell behind bars for nearly 30 years before a chance of parole.

"These are horrific, horrific crimes that have devastated the lives of four women -- horrific," Isabella said. "He is a complete sociopath. He certainly does not belong walking in the streets of this community. He beat them mercilessly and raped them. In my 10 years, I have seen a lot but I don't think I've seen worse than this."

A DNA sample taken in August 2008 after Connell's conviction in an unrelated case connected him to the unsolved rapes, Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Najma Rana said.

In April Connell admitted to the four attacks.

On Sept. 12, 2001, the day after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a now 50-year-old woman was attacked at about 5 a.m. in Journal Square as she walked to the PATH station, Rana said.

On Jan. 7, 2002, he raped a now 27-year-old woman in Journal Square as she walked to the PATH station.

Three days later, on Jan. 10, 2002, he sexually assaulted a woman who is now 54 on Kennedy Boulevard near West 24th Street in Bayonne as she walked home from a public laundry, Rana said. She was dragged into the parking garage at Midtown Community School and attacked.

Perhaps the most violent attack was on Feb. 17, 2002, in an industrial area of Newark Connell grabbed a woman on her way to a movie theater and dragged her into a truck yard. Hidden between two trucks, he punched her in the face multiple times before sexually assaulting the woman, who is now 34, Rana said.

In one statement read by Rana, the victim said she is now fearful all the time, particularly when anyone is standing behind her.

"Even in church, I'm fearful of people behind me waiting to receive communion,"
she said.

One victim stood before the judge and in her own words told of the damage Connell wreaked on her life.

"I want him to pay for what he has done," the woman said. As she turned and returned to her seat in the courtroom benches her voice trailed off as she tearfully said, "I don't know why he did this to us."

Connell apologized to his victims and his family prior to being sentenced.

After the sentencing Isabella asked if he wanted to say anything and rapist mouthed "No" silently.

As part of a plea deal, Connell, a resident of Avenue C, pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated sexual assault.

Serial rapist pleads guilty to attacks in Jersey City, Bayonne, Newark
By Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal
March 24, 2010, 3:20PM

A serial rapist who preyed on women in Jersey City, Bayonne, and Newark, has pleaded guilty and faces up to 35 years in prison after DNA evidence uncovered two years ago linked him to the brutal crimes he committed six years earlier, officials said.

Nealson Connell, 34, of Avenue C in Bayonne, pleaded guilty Monday to four aggravated sexual assaults committed in 2001 and 2002. A DNA sample taken in August 2008 after his conviction in an unrelated case connected him to the unsolved cases, Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Najma Rana said today.

"He accosted all of them from behind, placed them in a headlock, forced them into an isolated location and sexual violated them," said Rana of the two attacks in Jersey City, one in Bayonne and one in Newark.

"All of these women were doing ordinary things, leading ordinary lives. Thank heavens for DNA because this defendant was unapprehended for a long time," she added.

Connell admitted to the Sept. 12, 2001 rape of a now 50-year-old woman who was attacked at about 5 a.m. on Journal Square as she walked to the PATH station, Rana said.

He also admitted raping a now 27-year-old woman on Journal Square as she walked to the PATH station on Jan. 7, 2002.

On Jan. 10, 2002, he sexually assaulted a woman who is now 54 years old on Kennedy Boulevard near West 24th Street in Bayonne as she walked home from a public laundry, Rana said. The victim was dragged into the parking garage at Midtown Community School and attacked.

Perhaps the most violent attack was on Feb. 17, 2002 in an industrial area of Newark on Foundry Street where Connell grabbed a woman on her way to a movie theater and dragged her into a truck yard. Hidden between two trucks, he punched her in the face multiple times before sexually assaulting the woman who is now 34-years-old, Rana said.

In May 2008 Connell was sentenced to three years probation for a Hudson County drug offense and as a result, a sample of his DNA was taken, Rana said.

His DNA profile was run through the FBI's Combined DNA Index System where it was found to match DNA recovered during the rape investigations. The Newark case was then transferred to Hudson County for prosecution.

At least two victims are expected to speak at Connell's sentencing scheduled for June 18 before Superior Court Judge Joseph V. Isabella in the Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City.

Under the plea deal, Connell must serve more than 29 years before becoming eligible for parole.

Reading this gave me the chills, those poor women...Thank god they will finally get the chance to see justice!!!!!


DNA match leads cops to 'serial rapist'
by Michaelaneglo Conte
Tuesday September 09, 2008, 6:08 PM

A 33-year-old man was charged Monday with raping two women in Jersey City and one in Bayonne after a DNA sample taken from him recently matched the DNA recovered after the rapes in 2001 and 2002, officials said today.

Nealson Connell, 33, of Avenue C near West Ninth Street, was charged with three counts of aggravated sexual assault, three counts of kidnapping and one weapons offense, said Hudson County Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Debra Simon. A fourth DNA hit matched Connell to a Newark rape, but he has not yet been charged with that crime, Simon said.

"Clearly, when you have stranger-on-stranger rapes you are interested in making sure you can bring answers to the table," said Simon. "We have had CODIS (the FBI DNA data base) hits in the past but not this many strung together - four cases linked to one perpetrator," she said.

Connell is charged with the Sept. 12, 2001 rape of a 42-year-old Jersey City woman at 5:20 a.m. at Bergen Avenue and Reed Street, Simon said. The woman was forced into a lot and raped, Simon said, adding that her attacker demanded money, but threw her purse on the ground without opening it, Simon said.

Connell is charged with the Jan. 7, 2002 rape of a 22-year-old woman at Tuers Avenue and Academy Street at 6:15 a.m., Simon said. The woman was forced to a dark, secluded area at knife-point and raped, Simon said, adding that the attacker demanded money.

Connell is also charged with the Jan. 10, 2002 rape of a 46-year-old Bayonne woman at West 24th Street and Avenue A at 10 p.m., Simon said. She was dragged into a school parking lot and thrown to the ground before being raped, Simon said. She suffered a cut on her chin, bump on her head, abrasions on her knees and broken fingernails, Simon said.

Finally, Connell's DNA matched that recovered after a woman was raped on Foundry Street in Newark on Feb. 17, 2002, Simon said. The victim was walking to a movie theater when she was pulled into a truck parking lot and raped, Simon said.

Cops got a break in the rape cases when Connell was arrested in Bayonne on drug charges on Feb. 10, Simon said. After pleading guilty to drug possession he was sentenced to three years probation on May 16 and order to submit a DNA sample, Simon said.

Connell's DNA profile was run through the CODIS system and it matched the DNA collected at the time the four rapes were committed, Simon said. State Police notified the prosecutor's office in a letter posted on Aug. 25 and Simon told sex crime detectives to find Connell, Simon said.

He was arrested Monday morning and his bail is set at $1 million, Simon said.