PASADENA, Texas — The man accused of killing an 11-year-old Pasadena girl about two and a half months ago was due in court on Monday, but according to court records, the appearance was pushed back to December.
Juan Carlos Garcia-Rodriguez, 18, is charged with capital murder in connection with Maria Gonzalez's death on Aug. 12 at an apartment complex on Main Street near Harris Avenue.
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Maria was sexually assaulted and strangled while her dad was at work, police said.
After Maria's death, Garcia-Rodriguez went missing. He was later identified as a person of interest in the case and found in Louisiana. He was arrested in Shreveport on Aug. 19 and extradited to Pasadena on Aug. 23.
What happened to Maria?
Police said they were called to the apartment complex at about 3 p.m. when Maria's father, Carmelo Gonzalez, called 911. He came home from work and found his daughter's body wrapped in a trash bag and stuffed in a laundry basket that was put beneath her bed.
Carmelo Gonzalez told police he left for work at about 9:45 a.m., leaving his daughter home alone. A little later, he got a message from her saying someone knocking at the front door.
Carmelo Gonzalez said he told her not to open the door. She said she wouldn't and that she would stay in her bed. After that, Carmelo Gonzalez never heard from Maria again.
Brugger said that at about 1 p.m., Carmelo Gonzalez contacted family members who stayed in the same apartment complex and asked them to check on Maria. Maria's aunt and uncle both went to look for her but said they couldn't find her inside the apartment.
Police said Carmelo Gonzalez got off work and made it home shortly after 3 p.m. That's when he found his daughter's body. He called 911 and when paramedics arrived on the scene, they provided medical aid to Maria before pronouncing her dead.
A medical examiner confirmed that Maria's cause of death was asphyxiation due to strangulation. It was also determined that Maria was sexually assaulted.
What led police to Juan Carlos Garcia-Rodriguez?
According to court records, a single key led investigators to Garcia-Rodriguez.
When Carmelo Gonzalez came home and found his daughter dead, he also found a key that didn't belong to his apartment. Investigators later determined that the key belonged to a neighboring apartment unit.
Three people lived in that unit, including Garcia-Rodriguez.
Police spoke to Garcia-Rodriguez's two roommates and they told them he moved out just days after Maria was killed and when they asked for his key to the apartment, he refused to give it back, telling them that he was going to hold on to it.
The two roommates grew nervous, so they had the locks changed.
Detectives later determined that the key found in Maria's home matched the old locks.
The roommates told police they didn't really know Garcia-Rodriguez and he had only lived with them for less than a month.
After first denying involvement with Maria's death, Garcia-Rodriguez later changed his story, investigators said. He told them it was his key that was found in Maria's apartment but he said he was forced to sexually assault Maria because he claimed two Black men held him at gunpoint and made him do it.
Prosecutors said they don't think anyone else was involved.