Crime Solvers Central
Crime Solvers Central
302 Cases Solved. Advancing justice for missing persons, unsolved homicides, unidentified and unclaimed remains.

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Rodney Saunders was 23 when he was killed in an ambush just steps from his Yonkers home on May 1, 2014. At about 2 a.m. he was walking on Woodsworth Avenue near Gold Street when a minivan stopped, two men emerged and opened fire. Saunders was struck six times, including a fatal shot that pierced his chest and damaged his heart and lungs. A nearby witness was also endangered when a bullet struck a window guard and grazed the person’s shoulder.

Yonkers detectives later identified one of the gunmen as 24-year-old Edwin Palestina. He was arrested on June 16, 2015, in Houston and charged in Saunders’ death. Prosecutors said the attack grew from a personal dispute and was premeditated, with Palestina and an accomplice lying in wait. Palestina pleaded guilty in February 2016 to first-degree manslaughter and first-degree attempted murder and was sentenced to 25 years in state prison.

The second shooter who participated in the ambush has not been publicly identified and remained at large. Did anyone in Yonkers see the minivan or the two men that night or have information about the second attacker?