Juan Carlos Garcia-Rodriguez suspected of allegedly sexually assaulting and killing an 11-year-old Pasadena Texas girl before hiding her body underneath her bed has been arrested, police said Saturday.
The Pasadena Police Department said in a statement on Saturday that investigators were able to obtain additional evidence linking an 18-year-old man to the death of Maria, and they arrested him in Shreveport, Louisiana.
The man will be charged with capital murder. He is awaiting to be extradited to Texas, police said.
Josh Bruegger, Chief of Pasadena Police, said at a press conference that investigators discovered a key inside Maria’s apartment and learned that it opened Garcia-Rodriguez’s unit.
Bruegger said police interviewed neighbors at the apartment building Saturday. Among those that were interviewed was Garcia-Rodriguez, from whom police also collected a DNA sample.
Maria’s father, Carmelo Gonzalez, called the police to report that he’d discovered his daughter’s body, which had been wrapped inside a garbage bag and stuffed in a laundry basket under the victim’s bed.