Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Minehart rejected a defense motion to suppress the statements.
Minehart concluded that the detectives who interviewed Rodriguez on Jan. 17 and 18, 2011, were credible when they testified Monday that they had read him his rights, treated him well and did not handcuff him during the lengthy interviews.
Minehart also denied the claim by defense attorney William Bowe that police lacked probable cause to take Rodriguez into custody on the evening of Jan. 17.
That morning, Minehart noted, homicide detectives had positively matched the defendant's DNA to the crime scenes and he was wanted on two bench warrants for unrelated parole violations.
Rodriguez, 23, has pleaded not guilty to the three homicides.
In his statements, Rodriguez said that the three women he allegedly strangled were prostitutes he met walking the streets of Kensington.
Police Officer Jacqueline Davis, of the Crime Scene Unit, testified that the body of Elaine Goldberg, 21, was found Nov. 3, 2010, in a lot on Ruth Street near Somerset. Officer Michaeleen Christy testified that the body of Nicole Piacentini, 35, was found Nov. 13, 2010, in the open rear doorway of an abandoned house on Cumberland Street near Jasper.
Paramedic Andre Luciano testified that the body of Casey Mahoney, 27, was found Dec. 15, 2010, in a wooded area on Tusculum Street near Front.
Contact Mensah M. Dean at 215-568-8278 or deanm@philly.com. Follow him on Twitter @mensahdean.
