May 2, 2001 – Marvin Dominguez pleaded guilty to the 1999 murder of Patricia Ann Haumacher in February, but how much time he will serve for the crime remains unknown.
Even though the 26-year-old admitted to police some 18 months ago that he strangled Haumacher and then buried her body in the backyard of their shared rental home in Frederiksted, the case has moved through Territorial Court at a snail’s pace.
Last February, Dominguez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder during a private session in Presiding Territorial Court Judge Maria Cabret’s chambers. Sentencing was set for April 11.
By entering the plea, Dominguez avoided a March 18 trial for first-degree murder and the possibility of life in prison. Instead, the New Jersey resident now faces between five and 20 years behind bars.
But the April sentencing, like almost every other aspect of the drawn-out case, was continued by Cabret, according to Assistant Attorney General Marie John-Drigo.
"As far as I know, the judge hasn’t rescheduled it," John-Drigo said.
It's the latest of many delays in the case. Prosecutors cited problems having evidence analyzed by the FBI Crime Lab as a major impediment, and a change of the judge hearing the case as another.
Haumacher’s family in New Jersey reported her missing on Nov. 9, 1999, after not having heard from her for more than a month. Four days later, V.I. police interviewed Dominguez, who told investigators she had been having family problems and had left the island. Acquaintances of Dominguez and Haumacher reported last seeing her around Oct. 8, 1999.
Dominguez turned himself in on Nov. 29, 1999, soon after authorities queried him about Haumacher’s whereabouts. The next day officials exhumed her body, bound and gagged inside a duffel bag, from a shallow grave in the yard of the house the two had shared in Estate Two Brothers. An autopsy determined that the victim was killed by manual strangulation and had been dead for one to two months.
According to court documents, Dominguez killed Haumacher after an argument turned violent.
