Westchester man charged with murder after Rye Brook strangling death
A Rye Brook domestic dispute became a murder case after Samantha Maldacker died, and Hugo Soto-Diaz was indicted on second-degree murder and manslaughter.
What began as a Rye Brook emergency response to a dispute on Westview Avenue has now become a murder prosecution. Westchester County prosecutors secured a grand jury indictment on April 29 against 30-year-old Hugo Soto-Diaz in the death of 37-year-old Samantha Maldacker, upgrading the case to second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter after investigators determined the confrontation ended in a strangling death.
Police first responded on March 30 to 14 1/2 Westview Ave. after a 911 call reported a dispute at the home. Officers found Maldacker unconscious and not breathing, and Rye Brook police and Port Chester Rye Rye Brook EMS began CPR and other lifesaving measures at the scene. Later reporting said the complaint alleged Soto-Diaz strangled Maldacker, and a resident reportedly heard a struggle in the bedroom and a woman yell, “Get off me.” News 12 Westchester reported that at least two ambulances and police vehicles were visible at about 9:15 a.m.
The case initially moved through the system as an assault and attempted murder matter before Maldacker’s death pushed prosecutors to seek a homicide indictment. Soto-Diaz pleaded not guilty when he was arraigned, and Judge Anne Bianchi remanded him to Westchester County Jail. He is due back in Westchester County Court on June 3.
Court and jail records also added more detail to the investigation’s timeline. Talk of the Sound reported that Soto-Diaz was booked into the Westchester County Jail on March 31 at 12:03 a.m., and county correction records reportedly list aliases including Hugo Enrique Soto-Diaz and VIC. Westchester County communications officials said in early April that Maldacker’s cause of death was still pending while toxicology testing was being performed.
Westchester County District Attorney Susan Cacace praised the Rye Brook Police Department’s work and called the killing a “senseless and tragic act of violence.” The case is being handled by Major Case Bureau Deputy Chief Elizabeth Shumejda and Assistant District Attorney Victoria Clarkson, underscoring how quickly a local domestic dispute in Rye Brook escalated into a homicide case now headed for a far more serious phase in Westchester County Court.
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