Binghamton University Stabbing Suspect Enters a Not Guilty Plea

The  Binghamton University student arrested April 16 in the fatal stabbing of a 19-year-old freshman on campus remains jailed after pleading not guilty to murder. A public defender representing 20-year-old Michael Roque entered the plea.

Roque is charged with murder in the death of engineering student Joao Souza.  Authorities say the freshman, who was a Brazilian native, who had previously attended school in New York, had been stabbed numerous times at a room at the Windham residence Hall Sunday night.  The stabbing was reported to authorities at around 10:30 p.m. April 15.  Authorities have not released any suspected motive for the killing.

Police and search teams from several agencies spent a reported 20 hours scouring the campus for evidence and information.  Classes at B.U. were suspended and students expressed shock as news spread of the on-campus killing. University president Harvey Stenger said in a statement that police are working with the community to keep the campus safe.

The fatal stabbing comes just five weeks after Binghamton University Nursing School student Haley Anderson was found dead in another student’s off-campus apartment on Oak Street on Binghamton’s West Side.

22 year old Orlando Tercero was arrested in Nicaragua and charged with murder in the 22 year old Westbury, Long Island woman’s death. Officials in Broome County are still working on trying to get Tercero returned to the United States.  The U.S. has no extradition treaty with Nicaragua and prosecutors say it may take weeks, months or years if Tercero is ever brought back to face justice in Broome County.