LONG-SOUGHT SUSPECT IN FATAL HIT-AND-RUN APPREHENDED Jan. 25, 2008 Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley today announced the arrest of a former Winthrop woman in connection with the death of a 61-year-old Revere resident who was fatally struck as he crossed Ocean Avenue a little more than a year ago. Members of the Suffolk County State Police Detective Unit took MILENA JOHANA HENAO GIRALDO, a.k.a. MILENA HENAO, 27 (D.O.B. 6/7/80), into custody in New York City late this morning. Giraldo was arrested last week by the New York Police Department on a warrant that issued shortly after her June 28, 2007, indictment for the death of George Azarian on Dec. 31, 2006. Troopers expect to return Giraldo to Boston this afternoon or this evening. Her arraignment on charges of motor vehicle homicide and leaving the scene of an accident causing death is expected Monday morning in Suffolk Superior Court. Evidence developed during the 2007 investigation by State Police and Suffolk prosecutors indicates that Azarian was crossing Ocean Avenue at the Shirley Avenue crosswalk when Giraldo – behind the wheel of a silver 2000 Dodge Intrepid registered to a friend’s mother – struck him in the second southbound travel lane and continued without stopping, Conley said. Responding emergency medical technicians transported Azarian to Massachusetts General Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead of injuries sustained in the collision. A surveillance camera operated by the City of Revere and affixed to a nearby building captured the incident on tape. Enhancement of that footage helped investigators establish the make, model, and color of the suspect vehicle, and experts were able to determine that it had been manufactured between the late 1990s and early 21st century. The license plate number remained unclear, however, so investigators undertook a methodical search for every single 1998-2004 silver Dodge Intrepid registered in Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop, Conley said. Conley’s office distributed a frame of the video in hopes of identifying the vehicle – to no avail. “It was classic, shoe-leather detective work,” Conley said, singling out Trooper Joel Balducci for his dogged work to locate the car and identify its driver. “Where high technology left our questions unanswered, Trooper Balducci dug in and kept searching.” On Feb. 7, detectives arrived at the home of a Winthrop woman who had such a vehicle registered in her name. They spoke to the woman’s daughter, who said that the car was at an East Boston garage having its speedometer repaired. Giraldo, a friend of the daughter, was present at the time of the interview. Detectives visited the garage later that day and were told that the car had been dropped off on Feb. 1 by two women for repairs to the front windshield, right headlight, and hood. Garage employees led the detectives to a Dumpster where the damaged and dented car parts had been discarded. State Police seized the damaged parts, subjected them to forensic examination, and determined that they were entirely consistent with an impact such as the one captured on the security tape, Conley said. Armed with this knowledge, the detectives returned to the Winthrop residence and spoke with the husband of the registered owner. That man told investigators that his wife had registered the car as a favor to save his daughter’s friend, Giraldo, money on insurance. Conley said investigators focused their attention on Giraldo, soon learning that she had failed to give a friend a ride to work on New Year’s Eve as expected. Giraldo had also failed to appear at her own job as a waitress at a Salem restaurant, later telling her boss that she had been in an accident. The investigation also revealed that, after detectives had left the registered owner’s Winthrop home where they had spoken to her daughter in Giraldo’s presence, Giraldo had become visibly anxious to retrieve the car from the East Boston garage. Giraldo and two friends then took a taxi to the garage, where the friends waited across the street while Giraldo went to pick it up. She never returned. Suffolk prosecutors put the evidence before a grand jury, leading to Giraldo’s indictment last summer. A warrant for her arrest issued shortly thereafter, and police in New York City detained her on that warrant last week after learning she was within their jurisdiction. Balducci traveled to New York to interview her last week, taking a post-Miranda statement in which she acknowledged driving the car on the day Azarian was killed. “We can never give up on these cases,” Conley said. “This is the proof.” Return to the Press Releases page.