A Miami grand jury has indicted Miguel Ruiz Lobo, 42, on a charge of first-degree murder for allegedly stabbing an 11-year-old girl to death earlier this year, according to the Miami Herald.
Lobo was arrested after Marta Guzman, 11, was found in a pool of blood in her mother’s apartment. Miami Police said Guzman’s neck had been slashed and her wrists cut so deep that the girl’s hand almost came off.
Police said the motive for the crime may have been a bad breakup between Ruiz and Guzman’s mother. According to the Herald, police said Lobo tried to make the scene look like a suicide after he allegedly stabbed Guzman.
According to the arrest affidavit, a neighbor’s surveillance camera showed a person entering the apartment where Guzman was found and staying for roughly 32 minutes. Police said no one else entered the apartment until the victim’s mother returned and found the body roughly 2.5 hours later.
Miami Police said Ruiz (below) had fresh scratches on his arms and face. Police then were able to use DNA to link the fingernail scrapings on Guzman’s hands to Lobo’s body.
According to the Herald, the indictment on first-degree murder now opens the door for prosecutors to seek the death penalty.
