Manhattan jurors in a cop murder trial got to see the 15-year-old case’s most important physical evidence yesterday – the fake-leather bomber jacket of one of the two defendants.
Prosecutors believe the black jacket is the last thing 24-year- old Officer Michael Buczek laid hands on before he was shot in the heart on 160th Street and Broadway in Washington Heights in October 1988.
The young cop had grabbed hold of a man the DA says was fleeing the robbery of a drug dealer, only to have the man wriggle out of his jacket. The cop was then allegedly shot dead by the fleeing man’s partner.
The abandoned jacket had fresh bloodstains on the lining. In the right pocket was a loaded .357 Magnum revolver, and in the left pocket was a ring of keys with a red, heart-shaped fob.
At first, the jacket stymied murder investigators. But within 10 days, a locksmith was able to trace a key on the key ring to a lock on the Jamaica, Queens doorstep of Pedro Almonte, 51.
It turned out the blood from the jacket is a precise DNA match to Almonte, who prosecutors say was shot in the arm by Buczek’s partner. And a second key on the same ring fit a Chevy Caprice owned by Almonte’s pal, Jose Fernandez, 52.
It took 15 years for investigators to track Almonte and Fernandez to their native Dominican Republic. The two now face up to life in prison.