Suspect arrested after woman who was stabbed at Chicago train station named her ex-boyfriend as killer before dying

Police have arrested a man who allegedly stabbed and killed his ex-girlfriend on a Chicago train station platform over the weekend, the Chicago Police Department announced. Alejandro Arellano, 31, was charged with one count of first-degree murder in the death of 26-year-old Samantha Maldonado, police said on Monday. 

In the early hours of Saturday, morning Arellano followed Maldonado to the Adams and Wabash CTA station and stopped her from boarding a train, allegedly stabbing her multiple times before boarding a train himself and going home, according to police. 

Maldonado was able to push herself free from Arellano and run to the street before she collapsed, police said. She was taken to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead. 

Prior to her death, Maldonado named her ex-boyfriend as her assailant, CBS Chicago reported. Arellano was arrested less than 15 hours after the incident with the help of surveillance video footage from the CTA station, police said. 

Arellano and Maldonado had been in a relationship for six months and had recently broken up, prosecutors said. The pair met at a local pub just one hour before the incident, CBS Chicago reported. 

"Although this offender is in custody, there is still a family at the center of this who is grieving the loss of a young woman, who had her whole life ahead of her," Police First Deputy Supt. Eric Carter told reporters on Monday. "We hope knowing that the person responsible for her death has been brought to justice brings a small measure of closure and peace for the family."

Arellano has a prior criminal record, but the charges did not involve Maldonado, Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Antoinette Ursitti said Monday. The 31-year-old has been ordered held without bond Monday afternoon, according to CBS News Chicago.