Ex-NYPD housing cop held in wife slaying

An ex-NYPD housing cop was arrested Tuesday and charged with the murder of his wife, whose strangled body was found in Westchester County last week, officials said.

Edwin Coello, 38, was taken into custody around 2:25 p.m. at his mother's apartment in the Morris Park section of the Bronx and charged with second-degree murder, said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.

Coello was handcuffed by detectives from the 45th Precinct after he opened the door, and was taken away without incident, said Browne.

Coello had a rocky relationship with his wife Tina Adovasio who had filed for divorce about four weeks ago, officials said. The 40-year-old nurse and mother of a daughter with Coello, was last seen after Coello said they argued at the couple's home in Throgs Neck on March 11, police said. Adovasio's body was found about a week later by teenagers in a wooded area off the Taconic State Parkway near Yorktown Heights. The New York City medical examiner determined that she had been strangled.

Adovasio had three other children ages 17, 15 and 11 from a previous marriage.

Coello was a housing cop for about four years, resigning in 2000. At the time, he was reportedly under investigation in a domestic abuse case involving an old girlfriend. His defense attorney Renee Hill couldn't be reached for comment late Tuesday.

Adovasio's funeral took place Tuesday in suburban Mahopac.