Suspect Indicted In Stamford Man's Murder After Proclaiming Innocence

STAMFORD, Conn. -- A suspect in the stabbing death of Joseph Comunale, 26, of Stamford, was indicted by a grand jury in a Manhattan court Monday night, according to the Daily News.

A suspect was indicted in a Manhattan court on Monday in the fatal stabbing of Joey Comunale of Stamford, according to the Daily News.
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Donna Christopher

11/22/2016 12:30 p.m.

The east-side apartment was filled with bloodstains, and clothes of the murder victim were found in a chute for trash, and there was evidence of the victim's body in the suspect's car, according to the Daily News.

Still, James Rackover said he did not commit the Nov. 13 murder in his apartment, the Daily News said.

He reportedly does not disagree that Comunale was in his apartment on Nov. 13, but his claims are that he never "laid eyes on" him and had no knowledge of his death before his arrest, the Daily News said.

After Comunale was stabbed multiple times, his body was thrown from a fourth-floor apartment window and buried in a shallow grave in Monmouth County, N.J., police said. His body was partially burned before it was buried in the remote area, police said, as reported in Daily Voice.

James Rackover was born James Arthur Beaudoin and was arrested multiple times on burglary, armed robbery, and drug possession charges in Florida, according to the Daily Mail.

He moved to New York City and was taken under the wing of jeweler-to-the-stars Jeffrey Rackover, who treated James as a son and allowed him to use his name, according to the Daily News.

Charges were levied against Rackover and co-defendant Lawrence Dilione, 26, last week on "concealment of a human body, hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence," the Daily News reported.

They had not been given murder charges because the investigators were trying to determine who the killer was, said the Daily News.

“I don't know what charges he was indicted on today,” Rackover’s lawyer, Robert Caliendo, reportedly said at Monday night's hearing, the Daily News reported.

Comunale was a 2008 graduate of Westhill High School and a 2012 graduate of Hofstra University. He worked as a sales associate at Tri-Ed in Elmsford, N.Y., Daily Voice reported.

To read the Daily News stories, click here and here.

To read the story at the Daily Mail, click here.

To read Daily Voice prior coverage of the story, click here.

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