NJ man kept going free until he raped woman, strangled another

ELIZABETH — A violent career criminal who kept committing crimes almost as soon as he was released has now confessed to committing the ultimate crime: murder.

Arlie Rodriguez — already in prison on a sentence for a 2013 rape and carjacking — has now admitted to strangling a woman and trying to kill her friend just days before he was busted for the carjacking in this city.

The 47-year-old pleaded guilty to the charges of murder, attempted murder and criminal sexual contact this week in Superior Court. He faces a minimum sentence of 30 years in prison, with no parole eligibility, when he is sentenced again in December. He already is serving a sentence for the rape and carjacking that would have left him behind bars until 2027.

Rodriguez was last arrested on May 10, 2013, after the carjacking.

Investigators recently learned, however, that two days earlier he had paid 48-year-old Patricia Parham-Hayward a visit at her apartment on Madison Avenue.

Investigators say the two went into her room and he strangled her with a piece of clothing. Moments later he left the room and attacked Parham-Hayward’s friend. Rodriguez left before police arrived.

Prosecutors did not explain the women's relationship to Rodriguez.

Prosecutors said investigators used phone records, surveillance video and DNA from cigarette butts and clothes at the crime scene to link Rodriguez to the crime. He was charged last year.

Rodriguez has an adult criminal conviction record in New Jersey dating back to 1991, when he was sentenced to five years in prison for robbery.

In 1993 he was sentenced to three years of probation for resisting arrest after a traffic stop. A year later he got 15 years for carjacking.

In 2005, he got three years for burglary.

In 2008 he got three years for stealing.

In 2009 he got five years for robbery.

Sergio Bichao is deputy digital editor at New Jersey 101.5. Send him news tips: Call 609-359-5348 or email sergio.bichao@townsquaremedia.com.