Daughter Charged With Stabbing Mother's Boyfriend

Murder charge for teen girl who lured man to his death

A 16-year-old girl is behind bars in West Palm Beach for planning and executing a lethal plot to kill her mother's boyfriend, according to police.

Berenice Juarez, 16, appeared in juvenile court Thursday afternoon charged with murder following the attack that led to the death of Gildardo Ramos Paz, 42, according to WPTV.

Police said the plan was simple: lure Paz, kill him, and go to school. Juarez did just that, authorities said.

The night before the attack, the 16-year-old texted Paz from her mother's phone pretending to be her and asked him to meet her in Delray Beach at a Winn Dixie shopping center located in the 1500 block of South Congress Avenue. Paz called Juarez's mother, Edith Martinez, but got no answer. Afterwards, Paz got another text: "Are you able to go?"

The next day, Paz arrived at the shopping center, and tried to call Martinez. There, he found Juarez, who attacked him with a knife and left him to die in his car. She ran off to school but not before she discarded the bloody knife near a Dunkin Donuts.

Paz, a Guatemala native and married father of five, died from his injuries. His body was discovered by police around 6:45 a.m.  Cell phone records led police to Juarez's mother, Martinez, who told police she shared the phone with her three children.

Juarez had only told one other person about her plot, her brother, but he did not believe her.

During Juarez's appearance in court, Circuit Judge Ronald Alvarez ordered her to be held in detention while the State Attorney's Office decides whether to charge her as an adult. Martinez attended the hearing but did not make any statements.

Paz's oldest daughter, 24-year-old Donis Ramos, says her father moved to the United States nine years ago. He regularly sent money to his wife and kids in Guatemala. She was unaware of the affair between Martinez and her father.

Ramos plans to send her father's body back to his homeland.

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