Man Suspected Of Child Murder In Little Havana Arrested
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – An arrest has been made in the homicide investigation of 11-year-old Martha Guzman who lost her life inside the Little Havana apartment that she shared with her mother and three-year-old brother.
City of Miami Police arrested Miguel Ruiz Lobo, 42, on charges of first degree murder and occupied burglary on Monday.
Ruiz dated Guzman's mother for several years, but the mother ended the relationship about fives month before her daughter's death.
Ruiz was arrested Monday after police say a DNA test linked Ruiz to the murder.
Click here to WATCH CBS4 MaryAnn Martinez's report
Police say Guzman scratched Ruiz as she tried to defend herself during the violent attack that claimed her life.
At 220 pounds and 6-feet, 4-inches tall, Ruiz quickly over-powered the 11-year-old.
Police say he slit the 11-year-old's neck.
"He restrained her and after he killed her, he slashed her wrists," said City of Miami Police Chief Manuel Orosa. "The wrists were slashed so far deep, that it almost came off her arm."
Police say Ruiz tried to cover up the crime, telling investigators that Guzman tried to kill herself. Orosa said Guzman had previously cut herself prior to her death, in an attempt to get her mother to end the relationship with Ruiz.
"I talked with my daughter every night," said Martha's father Jorge. "She was my life. She told me everything that was going on in the house."
Jorge Guzman said that his daughter had been having problems with her mother and Ruiz. The Department of Children and Families confirmed that the agency had a "history" with the family, indicating social workers had been to the home in the past.
According to City of Miami Police, a neighbor's surveillance video showed Ruiz entering Guzman's apartment at approximately 10:28 A.M. on June 22nd, the day of the murder, and leaving the apartment at approximately 11:00 A.M.
No one else enters or exits the residence until Guzman's mother came home and found her daughter at approximately 2:28 P.M.
Police say they thought that Ruiz had been lying to them from the beginning but the department needed time to build a case against him. Now Ruiz has invoked his right to council and is no longer talking to authorities.
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