Suspect in NJ teen's murder declares innocence

(Chelsea-WABC, July 28, 2006) (WABC) -- The man accused of killing an 18-year-old who went clubbing in Chelsea is fighting extradition.

Jennifer Moore's night out ended with her being murdered in a New Jersey motel. Eyewitness News reporter Sarah Wallace has more on the story.

On Friday morning, crime scene investigators from the Hudson County prosecutor's office brought forensic equipment into the Weehawken Hotel. This is where authorities believe 35-year-old Draymond Coleman assaulted and strangled 18-year-old Jennifer Moore of Harrington Park, sometime Tuesday morning.

How did it happen? Here is what investigators know so far: Jennifer Moore was out drinking at a bar in Chelsea. But when she and some friends left, they discovered their car had been towed, so they went to the city's impound lot on the West Side Highway. Moore was last seen walking alone along that highway in the middle of the night. Her body turned up Thursday morning in a dumpster in West New York.

She was a stand out soccer star in high school. Coleman is accused of being a 35-year-old pimp.How the two encountered each other is still a mystery. The last time Jennifer Moore was heard from, she was on her cell phone talking to her boyfriend saying a strange man was following her.

Hugh Moore, victim's father: "Staying at the impound would have been the right thing ... just the wrong place at the wrong time. It's a terrible tragedy."

Coleman was picked in Manhattan soon after Moore's body was found in a suitcase that had been thrown in a dumpster. It's now only a matter of time before he's extradited to New Jersey to face charges in her killing.

Coleman professed his innocence when he was lead out of the 10th Precint early this morning but law enforcement sources say there's plenty of evidence already linking him to Moore's murder including surveillance tape from inside the hotel and statements by Coleman's girlfriend, 20-year-old Krystal Riordan who police say admitted being inside a third floor room with the suspect and his alleged victim.

The girlfriend reportedly admits helping Coleman carry the Moore's body to a nearby dumpster where it was discovered yesterday morning.

Coleman, who has a history of drug sales and violence, became combative with photographers this morning.

At noon, Coleman's attorneys told a judge in Lower Manhattan that he is refusing to waive extradition to Hudson County.He was remanded by the judge and his next court date is August 25th.

Riordan was charged with hindering Coleman's arrest, evidence tampering and prostitution by prosecutors in Hudson County. Riordan, of Orange, Connecticut, was being held in the Hudson County Jail on $1 million bail.

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