Family, church hold vigil for missing Elmont woman

With the matriarch of an Elmont family still missing - and her younger son accused of murdering her husband and other son - the 65-year-old woman's extended family cried out in prayer last night for a higher power to reveal her whereabouts.

"We pray that she will be found - wherever she is!" said Pastor Joseph Williams of the Glory of God Tabernacle in Brooklyn, who led more than two dozen friends and family of the missing woman, Rose Ormejuste, in an emotional service with singing and hand-holding.

Under the setting sun, their voices rang out on the porch of the modest home inside which police say the younger son fired the fatal gunshots on June 21.

The younger son, Dario Ormejuste, 24, has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the slayings of the father, Bob Ormejuste, 65, and their oldest son, Guerby Ormejuste, 30, a city correction officer assigned to Rikers Island.

Their wake will be Friday at Krauss Funeral Home in Franklin Square from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., with a funeral Saturday at St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church in Elmont at 9:45 a.m. and burial to follow at Uniondale's Greenfield Cemetery.

Dario Ormejuste, on his way to arraignment last week, told reporters: "I didn't do it." His court-appointed attorney Richard J. Barbuto of Mineola said his client maintains his innocence.

Dario Ormejuste has not been charged in connection with his mother's disappearance. He has not been helpful in locating Rose Ormejuste, police said, or a family car that disappeared the day of the deaths.

In call-and-response chants Tuesday, Williams pleaded for divine intervention to compel Dario Ormejuste to talk about his mother's whereabouts.

"Touch his heart!" he said.

"Amen!" cried the faithful.

"Let him cry out and release it!" Williams said of the woman's whereabouts. "In the name of Jesus!"

Cassandra Cean Owens, Rose's niece, said she felt better after the hourlong vigil.

"I feel the more voices God hears the more easily he'll hear your petition," she said in front of the home, on 238th Street. "I'm certain that God has heard our petition and God never forsakes his children."

Meanwhile, Barbuto said he met with his client in jail Monday and plans to visit again. He said he'd asked the district attorney's office for evidence against his client, such as the client's statement to detectives, but Barbuto maintains he's been rebuffed.

District attorney spokeswoman Carole Trottere said the office would "adhere to the criminal procedure law, which governs when information shall be disclosed."