On the afternoon of November 15, 1989, 15-year-old Angela Correa went out after school in Peekskill, New York, to take pictures for a photography class. She never returned home. Her naked body was found by police dogs on the morning of November 17, 1989. Her clothes and cassette player were recovered nearby. She had been raped, beaten, and strangled.
An autopsy revealed genital trauma. Semen was identified on the vaginal swabs from the rape kit, but no semen was seen on the victim’s clothes.
Sixteen-year-old Jeffrey Deskovic, a classmate of Correa, became a suspect because he was late to school the day after Correa disappeared and because he seemed overly distraught about her death. He visited her wake three times.
Police spoke with Deskovic eight times in December 1989 and January 1990. Meanwhile, Deskovic had begun his own “investigation” of the case, and he gave officers notes about possible suspects. In late January 1990, Deskovic agreed to submit to a polygraph examination, believing that he would be cleared and could continue to help police with their investigation.
Deskovic was taken to a private polygraph business run by Daniel Stephens, a Putnam County sheriff’s officer. The defense would argue at Deskovic’s trial that Stephens had been hired by Peekskill police to get a confession. Deskovic was taken to a small room. He was without a lawyer or parent. He was provided with coffee throughout the day but no food. Between polygraph sessions, detectives interrogated Deskovic.
After six hours, three polygraph sessions, and extensive questioning by detectives, the police said Deskovic confessed. One of the detectives had accused Deskovic of having failed his polygraph and said he had been convinced of Deskovic's guilt for weeks. According to the detective, Deskovic then stated he “realized” three weeks ago he might be the killer.
Deskovic was asked to describe the crime and began speaking in the third person, but switched to first person part way through the narrative. Ultimately, Deskovic said, “I lost my temper” and that he hit the victim in the head with a Gatorade bottle, put his hand over her mouth and kept it there too long.
During the statement, Deskovic began to cry. By the end of the interrogation, he was under the table, curled up in the fetal position, sobbing.
On January 25, 1990, Deskovic was charged with first-degree rape and second-degree murder.
Prior to the trial, DNA testing was performed. Deskovic was excluded as the source of semen in the rape kit. The prosecution continued on the strength of the confession, although not all of the interrogations were recorded.
On November 19, 1990, following a hearing lasting several days on a defense motion to suppress the confession, Westchester County Supreme Court Judge Nicholas Colabella denied the motion. A jury was then selected.
Although the jury heard evidence that Deskovic had been excluded as the source of the semen, the prosecution argued that the delay in finding the body had degraded the evidence or, alternatively, that Deskovic had not ejaculated. The prosecution contended that the victim had had consensual sex with someone else and that Deskovic killed her in a jealous rage.
On December 5, 1990, the jury convicted Deskovic of first-degree rape and second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
The Second Department Appellate Division upheld the conviction and sentence on February 14, 1994.
In January 2006, the Innocence Project took on Deskovic’s case. The semen from the rape kit was tested with newer technology and then submitted to the New York State DNA database of DNA profiles of convicted felons.
In September 2006, the DNA profile from the evidence was matched to convicted murderer Steven Cunningham, who was serving a prison sentence of 20 years to life for strangling the sister of his live-in girlfriend three years after Correa was killed.
On September 20, 2006, Deskovic’s conviction was vacated and Deskovic was released from prison. He had spent nearly 16 years in custody for a crime he did not commit.
On November 2, 2006, the prosecution apologized to Deskovic and dismissed the case. In 2007, Cunningham pled guilty to Correa’s murder and was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. Deskovic eventually was awarded $14.05 million in compensation by the state of New York. Additionally, a federal jury awarded him $41 million in a civil lawsuit against Putnam County. However, a pre-trial agreement that ensured Deskovic a multi-million-dollar award but also included a ceiling to the compensation, limited his actual award to $10 million. With some of these proceeds he established The Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation of Justice.
In May 2013, Deskovic received a master’s degree from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. In May 2019, Deskovic obtained a law degree from the Pace University law school. He was admitted to the New York State Bar in October 2020.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 08-29-2011
Last Update Date: 01-26-2026
