Charges in rape, murder, and home invasion are dismissed 

HILLTOWN: The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office made an arrest announcement earlier this year in connection with a home invasion, robbery, murder, and rape in Hilltown. The case was a cold case that had puzzled police for ten years. The case is back on the unresolved list eight months later.

After a three-hour hearing on Monday, Thomas Delgado—a Philadelphia resident suspected of taking part in the brutal house invasion that claimed the life of 48-year-old businessman Joseph Canazaro—had all charges against him dropped.

The 50-year-old Delgado was charged with 34 crimes total, including murder, kidnapping, and other connected offenses. The case was brought before a Bucks County Grand Jury, which recommended charging the defendant. District Judge Regina Armitage dropped all but two of the counts.

Sexually Assaulted

Armitage made her decision based on the prosecution’s inability to provide sufficient proof that Delgado, who performed odd jobs for Canazaro at his house, was present when the crime was committed. “Here, there are a few missing pieces,” she said.

“Severely absent components.” On accusations of receiving stolen property and conspiring to steal Canazaro’s 2006 black Lincoln Mark LT pickup truck, the district judge scheduled a trial for Delgado. However, prosecutor Christopher Rees promptly retracted the remaining allegations, so ending the case.

After being detained without bond at the Bucks County Correctional Center since his arrest in January, Delgado—who insisted on his innocence—was promptly freed. As he protected her and the son, Canazaro’s girlfriend claimed the man, whom she thought to be Hispanic, had sexually assaulted her.

Canazaro’s son was also allegedly threatened with a knife by the same suspect. The boyfriend managed to free herself and flee with the son and family dog to a neighbor’s house, where they were discovered by the police. The suspects had left the girlfriend and son in the basement, blindfolded and restrained with zip ties.

Delgado not in jail on the day of murder

Later, when police arrived at the garage, they would find Canazaro dead, with his hands restrained by zip ties and only his underwear on. According to an autopsy, he was repeatedly stabbed to death.A few hours later, an abandoned 2006 Lincoln Mark LT pickup that had gone missing was discovered at a Quakertown shopping mall.

On the day of the murder, surveillance footage showed two individuals taking something out of the stolen pickup truck’s bed and putting it into the Nissan. Then the two men entered the Nissan and departed. Bell testified that records indicated Delgado was not in jail on the day of the murder. The prosecution, according to public defenders Caroline Crist and Brandon Ingraham, did not provide any proof that their client was inside the house when the crime was committed.

They cited Bell’s testimony, which stated that Delgado’s DNA did not match that of a clothing discovered in the bedroom. After raping the girlfriend, the defendant, according to the authorities, cleaned himself with the shirt. The public defenders contended that the DNA exclusion of Delgado as the rape suspect ought to have been sufficient grounds for dismissing the whole case against him.

According to authorities, Canazaro filed for bankruptcy in 2008 in order to escape his $10 million debt, which included nearly a million dollars due to casinos in Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and Mississippi. In addition, he resolved two federal cases involving bogus checks.