DNA Names Celestina Perez's Killer 31 Years After Her Body Was Found in a Springfield Park

An answer three decades in the making

For the family of a young Springfield mother, the wait for a name stretched across 31 years. This week that name finally came, even though it will never be spoken in a courtroom. According to WAMC Northeast Public Radio, Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni announced at a press conference on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, that authorities are confident they know who killed 24-year-old Celestina Perez in Springfield, Massachusetts, more than three decades ago.

Perez was a mother of four, an aunt, a sister and a friend to many, her nephew Jose Reyes told those gathered for the announcement, according to WAMC. The resolution of her case closes one of western Massachusetts’ longest-running homicide mysteries.

The crime in Gurdon Bill Park

The case began in early June 1995, when two men walking through Gurdon Bill Park discovered Perez’s body, WAMC reported. She was found in a ravine near Warwick and Genesse streets, and authorities determined she had been killed in the early morning hours of June 2, 1995.

According to WAMC, the evidence pointed to a violent struggle. Investigators detected strangulation and blunt force trauma to Perez’s head. There was also evidence that her attacker had been injured, given the amount of blood found on her clothing and on nearby vegetation. Canvassing and interviews at the time produced little, and the case went cold for years.

The bloodstain that broke it open

The breakthrough came from revisiting old evidence with new science. According to Gulluni, as quoted by WAMC, testing by the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab detected blood on Perez’s underwear and developed a major male DNA profile suitable for entry into the Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS.

“That profile produced a CODIS match to Joseph James Ceravolo Jr., who was 32 years old and living in Springfield at that time of Celestina’s death,” Gulluni said, according to WAMC. He added that the evidentiary profile was estimated to exclude 99.99 percent of the population. Ceravolo’s DNA was in CODIS because it had been entered through an unrelated felony case, and the DA said multiple tests confirmed the match.

A suspect who is already gone

The conclusion carries a painful limitation. According to WAMC, Ceravolo died in 2013, meaning there will be no arrest and no trial. “If Ceravolo were alive today, he would be charged with the murder of Ms. Celestina Perez,” Gulluni said. “But there will be no courtroom verdict. That is a painful fact and it is not the outcome Celestina, the public or her family deserves. But there is now an answer.”

Gulluni noted that Ceravolo had lived only a short distance from the park and had been charged with a violent domestic assault the same year Perez was killed, WAMC reported. Springfield Police Chief Larry Akers defended the conclusion, telling the outlet, “We don’t usually come out with things like this unless we know we have the right person.”

A pattern of cold cases cracked

The Perez case is part of a broader run of resolutions. According to WAMC, the Hampden District Attorney’s Office has now solved at least 10 cold cases in the last 12 years, with modern DNA testing playing a large role. A similar breakthrough in 2016 led to the identification and eventual guilty plea of Gary Schara in the 1992 murder of Lisa Ziegert in Agawam.

For Perez’s relatives, many of whom attended the announcement, the news offered something short of justice but larger than silence. “Knowing the truth allows us to take a final step towards justice and begin to find a little peace,” Reyes said, according to WAMC.

References: Authorities close Springfield cold case after 30 years thanks to DNA analysis