New York Peace Officer Guilty in ‘Bludgeoning Death’ of Hudson Valley Girlfriend

A peace officer and sergeant was found guilty of the violent death of his New Windsor girlfriend.

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On Thursday, Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced Luis Rondon, 50, of New Windsor was convicted by a jury in Orange County Court of murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

The convictions were in connection with the "bludgeoning death" of his girlfriend on October 7, 2019, inside her South Gate Village apartment, in New Windsor.

Deborah A. Waldinger, 32, was found dead at the South Gate Village Apartments by a maintenance worker as he tried to enter her residence to perform work inside.

Rondon, who was a peace officer and sergeant with the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority at the time of the murder, faces up to 25 years to life in prison when sentenced on December 15, 2021.

Rondon was initially apprehended in California in connection with the charges and was remanded to the Orange County Jail without bail following the verdict.

At the trial, prosecutors argued that Rondon had killed the victim, who he knew through their association with the Society for Creative Anachronism, a Medieval Reenactment group by striking her repeatedly on the head with a recently purchased framing hammer, and then flew to California.

Prosecutors argued that Rondon’s motive for killing the victim was that she had threatened to tell his wife about their relationship and that he feared losing his wife, his house and his pension from Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority.

“This was a particularly brutal murder that was made even more horrific by the fact that the victim was killed in her own home,” said District Attorney David Hoovler. “It is always disturbing when someone whose job is to promote public safety commits acts of senseless violence. This defendant deserves the maximum sentence that the law allows, and my office will recommend that he receives it. I thank the Town of New Windsor Police Department, the New York State Police and Orange County Sheriff’s Office for their actions on this case.