Prosecutors may refile charges against Thomas Delgado, 51, of Philadelphia.
A Philadelphia man accused of the murder of Joseph Canazaro and the rape of the victim’s girlfriend in a 2013 home invasion in Hilltown Township walked out of Bucks County district court this week free of all charges lodged against him.
Attorneys for Thomas Delgado, 51, were successful Monday in getting prosecutors and Magisterial District Judge Regina Armitage to throw out charges against their client at a preliminary hearing, as DNA evidence did not match that of the rape kit, according to KYW News Radio.
Bucks County prosecutors, per the report, argued that Delgado was one of two men who broke into the Swartley Road home in January 2013, stabbed and killed 48-year-old Canazaro, tied up his son and girlfriend, and stole a truck from the home.
According to police, Delgado’s girlfriend said a man who fit Delgado’s description raped her.
Almost seven years later, authorities found a mask in the stolen truck with DNA tests that made Delgado a potential match, per the article However, Delgado’s DNA was not on a rape kit, and his attorneys argued Delgado worked for Canazaro and more evidence than phone calls and a mask were needed to hold charges for trial.
With no DNA match to the rape kit, prosecutors threw out the rape charge against the defendant, and Armitage threw out the murder, kidnapping, and other charges, per the report.
Prosecutors may refile charges against Delgado.
Delgado was charged in January 2024 with criminal homicide, kidnapping, rape, burglary, and a litany of other charges, after police alleged that he was one of two armed men who broke into a home along the 300 block of Swartley Road during the morning of Jan. 18, 2013.
The second man, described as an Asian male with a slim build, short in height, with a heavy Asian accent, remains unidentified at this time, according to the complaint.
The two men are accused of entering the home through a first-floor window, at which point they pointed their handguns at Canazaro and his girlfriend in the master bedroom. The girlfriend confronted the men with her own firearm, but surrendered when she saw the men had weapons pointed both at her and Canazaro, police said.
The woman told police Delgado said, "We have been watching your house from the woods for the last few weeks. We know you have money. Just give us the money,” before he bound her and a juvenile resident with zip ties and left them face down on the bed, the report states.
Canazaro was also bound at the hands with zip ties, and the woman said she heard the two men moving him around the house as they searched for money, according to investigators.
Police said Delgado returned to the bedroom and moved the woman into another room, where he proceeded to rape her. He then moved the woman and the juvenile into the basement, according to the complaint.
The suspects reportedly ransacked the home, taking guns, money, jewelry, and bank records before fleeing the scene in Canazaro’s truck.
After hearing the men leave, the woman was able to free her hands and crawl upstairs to the kitchen, where she used shears to cut through the zip ties on her legs. She then freed the juvenile and hid them in a room, then fled to a neighboring home where she was able to call 911, the report states.
When police arrived, they found Canazaro’s body face down in the garage with his hands still tied behind his back. The following day, a medical examiner from the Bucks County Coroner’s Office concluded that Canazaro died as a result of multiple stab wounds, and his manner of death was listed as a homicide.
Canazaro’s truck was later located at the Quakertown Plaza Shopping Center, where surveillance footage from a neighboring business showed the suspects arriving in the truck, transferring the stolen items into a getaway vehicle, and then fleeing the area.
DNA and Cellular Tracing Key to Arrest
At the time of his death, Canazaro owed millions of dollars to creditors, leading police to believe that money may have been the motive for his killing. Reports indicate Canazaro — who owned multiple properties and businesses, including Finn McCool’s Tavern on Penn Street in Hatfield Township — filed for bankruptcy in 2008, with reports indicating he defaulted on loans and owed money to casinos.
A sexual assault examination was performed on the woman following the incident, with lab testing returning a partial, unknown male DNA profile in June 2013. An additional unknown DNA sample was recovered from gloves worn by one of the suspects at the scene, police said.
The investigation would go cold for another six years, before investigators located a black, half-face mask and garden-styled gloves hidden in Canazaro’s truck during an evidence review in October 2019. Police were able to secure a DNA sample from the mask, and FBI lab testing results revealed a possible DNA link between the sample taken from the mask and Delgado in August 2020, according to the complaint.
Investigators then secured Delgado’s address and phone number history via records of his criminal history in Philadelphia, then began comparing that information to cellular information contained within nearly a dozen cell phones that were discovered in Canazaro’s home.
The phones were forensically downloaded as part of the investigation. In doing so, police uncovered nearly 50 calls between Canazaro and Delgado between June 2011 and December 2011. The nature of those calls is currently unknown, and no motive was provided in the complaint.
"It would be wrong to call this a cold case. These detectives have spent more than a decade seeking justice for these victims,” District Attorney Jen Schorn said in January. "Like they always do, detectives never relented in the pursuit for justice, and now, we are able to announce an arrest.”
Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact Bucks County Detectives at 215-348-6354 or the Hilltown Township Police Department at 215-435-6011. Tips can also be left at www.bucksda.org.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
