Edna “Timmie” Schubert, a beloved octogenarian in Bay Shore, was found brutally beaten to death in her own home on Frederick Avenue back in December 2003.
Neighbors had discovered Schubert’s lifeless body in her bedroom after noticing an exterior window was smashed.
Twenty years later, in 2023, there was a break in the case.
All thanks to some good Suffolk cops who never gave up on her.
On Friday, Raul Ayala, 51, of Georgia, was indicted on a first-degree murder charge, and other charges, connected to her death.
He faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole, prosecutors said.
“This indictment demonstrates that justice has no expiration date,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney. “Through the relentless dedication of our retired and active law enforcement officers, coupled with advances in forensic technology, we were able to charge this defendant for the brutal murder of Edna Schubert which has haunted Suffolk County for over two decades.”
Tierney described Schubert, 88, as “a beloved friend to many and whose life was tragically cut short in an act of senseless violence.”
The breakthrough
The crime scene from 21 years ago had been extensively documented, with fingerprint and blood evidence found throughout the home carefully preserved, authorities said.
Still, the case went cold.
But a breakthrough came in 2023 when retired Suffolk Police Det. Pasquale Albergo contacted the Suffolk PD’s Homicide Section with the hope that advances in technology could help lead to an arrest.
From there, Homicide Det. Brendan O’Hara took up the cold case investigation, and started working with a retired fingerprint expert, Det. Timothy Kelly, who eventually matched the crime scene fingerprints to Ayala’s.
At the time of the murder, Ayala allegedly lived less than 200 yards away from Schubert’s Bay Shore home.
Further investigation focused on previously untested blood evidence found at the crime scene. Blood found on Shubert’s pantyhose and a white shirt revealed a mix of Schubert’s DNA and that of an unknown person.
The arrest
After learning Ayala was still alive and living in Talmo, Ga., police started surveilling him, with the goal of collecting discarded items from him, for DNA.
During that operation in August, law enforcement recovered plastic bottles and Georgia Lottery scratchoff cards, which were then promptly ferried back to New York and submitted to the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory for analysis.
DNA from one of the bottles matched that on Shubert’s clothing, prosecutors said.
On Jan.16, Ayala was arrested in Talmo by members of the Suffolk County Police Department, with local assistance.
He was arraigned on Friday, Feb. 7, before Acting Supreme Court Justice Richard Horowitz on one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder, all Class A felonies, and ordered held without bail.
Ayala faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of the top charge, officials said.
“Decades after Edna Shubert was senselessly murdered during a brutal attack in her own home, her perpetrator was finally identified and arrested, due to the unrelenting efforts of Homicide Squad detectives,” said the newly sworn-in Suffolk County Police Commissioner, Kevin Catalina. “Let this case serve as evidence that no matter how much time passes, we will never stop working for victims.”
— Suffolk Police crime scene file photo/GLI
