Home invasion, murder and rape charges dropped

Thomas Delgado, inset right, was arrested in the death of Joseph Canazaro, inset left. (Bucks County District Attorney's photos of victim and suspect)

Left inset: Murder victim Joseph Canazaro. Right inset: Thomas Delgado. (Bucks County District Attorney’s Office). Background: Screenshot of crime scene (FOX Philadelphia affiliate/YouTube).

A judge on Monday dropped charges against a Philadelphia man for allegedly murdering his former employer during a home invasion, according to the Bucks County Courier Times. Earlier in the hearing, prosecutor Christopher Rees reportedly dropped related rape charges against defendant Thomas Delgado, 51, because DNA testing ruled out that he was the man who sexually assaulted the murder victim’s fiancée, Joseph Canazaro, 48. Two of the 34 total charges were upheld, but they only related to the stolen 2006 black Lincoln Mark LT pickup. Rees eventually dropped those charges as well.

In the courts, authorities are back to square one trying to prove who broke into businessman Joseph Canazaro’s home and stabbed him to death.

“We do have some missing pieces here,” Judge Regina Armitage reportedly told the court on Monday. “There are some seriously missing pieces.”

More Law&Crime coverage: Charges against woman long suspected of leading murder-for-hire plot dropped after case collapses and lead prosecutor resigns

Two masked gunmen broke into a home in the 300 block of Swartley Road in Hilltown Township on Jan. 18, 2013, authorities said. They tied up local businessman Canazaro, his fiancée and her 12-year-old son with zip ties, and one of them, believed to be Delgado, raped his fiancée.

The two attackers took weapons, jewelry and money and fled in Canazaro’s van.

The woman managed to free herself from her blindfold and zip ties, and she and the boy were able to escape the basement. Authorities, however, found Canazaro in the garage. He was bound with zip ties and had been stabbed to death.

Authorities arrested Delgado in January, who allegedly had a history of violent crimes. He reportedly admitted to investigators that he had previously done manual labor for Canazaro.

DNA evidence linking him to the crime, however, proved flimsy. Authorities suggested the rapist — described by the fiancée as possibly Hispanic — had used a shirt to wipe himself after the sexual assault, but the DNA did not match the defendant’s.

“The facts stated in the affidavit have been proven false,” court-appointed attorney Caroline Crist reportedly said. “We are confident that Mr. Delgado is innocent of all charges.”

Hilltown Detective Louis Bell reportedly said Monday that prosecutors were waiting to confirm whether Delgado’s DNA matched evidence found on a mask found in the stolen truck, which was abandoned at a Quakertown shopping center. The other suspect in the crime was Asian, investigators said.

Surveillance video showed the suspects transferring the stolen items from the truck to a Nissan sedan at the mall and fleeing the area, prosecutors said.

Jason Kandel contributed to this report.

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