Edward Kralik was an NYPD detective, rapist and murderer.
Background
During his days in the academy, Kralik was shadowed by Thomas Crane. In 1998, while Kralik was just a patrol officer, the two men offered Alisa Hernandez and Cecelia Cruz a ride after they got caught up in the middle of a fight, only to brutally rape the two girls. Alisa fought back against Kralik, scratching and screaming, and ended up with his blood under her fingernails. Enraged, Kralik strangled Alisa to death and got into an argument with Crane about it, allowing Cecelia to escape. The two men subsequently wiped off Alisa's body as best they could and dumped it in a vacant lot where Kralik was one of the first responders despite it not being on his patrol beat. The case was assigned to Detective Chester Lake, who was unable to solve it, particularly with Cecelia, an illegal immigrant, lying about what had happened out of fear of deportation. Kralik then moved on with his life and was eventually promoted to detective.
Cold
In 2008, Penelope Fielding of the VDOQ Society suggested to Lake that Kralik may have been involved in the case because of two factors: his presence as a first responder was unusual, and DNA testing was in its infancy and most rapists wouldn't have thought to wipe down the body, but a cop would have. Lake confronted Kralik outside of his precinct about the case and didn't believe Kralik's answers. Lake and Kralik got into a public brawl after Lake collected a dropped cigarette butt to get Kralik's DNA, and Kralik subsequently called the evidence lockup about the kit. In an attempt to protect themselves, Kralik and Crane decided to ambush Lake, with Crane posing as their friend Bill Jensen to lure Lake into a trap. Though wounded by Crane, Lake killed Kralik in self-defense and escaped.
After the ambush, Lake was investigated for murdering Kralik, who appeared to have been shot three times in the back as he was running away and then twice in the chest. The Special Victims Unit was able to connect Kralik to the Alisa Hernandez case, while a reconstruction of the ambush, which revealed the existence of a third shooter, showed that Kralik had been spun around by the force of the chest shots, resulting in Lake's other bullets hitting him in the back. Lake was exonerated of murdering Kralik, while DNA testing matched Kralik to the blood found under Alisa's fingernails. However, the DNA results for Crane wasn't as clear, and his trial subsequently ended in a hung jury, leading Lake to murder him.
Known Victims
- Unknown date in 1998:
- Alisa Hernandez (raped and strangled to death)
- Cecelia Cruz (raped)
- March 17-18, 2008: Detective Chester Lake (ambushed and attempted to murder)