Key Found In Home Of Slain Girl Leads Police To Name Neighbor As Person Of Interest

Authorities are searching for a teen who lived in the same apartment building as an 11-year-old Texas girl after her body was found underneath her bed last week, police announced on Friday.

Juan Carlos Garcia-Rodriguez, 18, has been identified as a person of interest in the killing of the girl, Maria Gonzalez. The chief of the Pasadena police, Josh Bruegger, said at a press conference that investigators discovered a key inside Gonzalez’s apartment and learned that it opened Garcia-Rodriguez’s unit.

“This key has since been processed by our crime scene investigators and was not found to open any doors at the victim’s residence.” Pasadena police said in a statement.

Gonzalez was found dead Saturday. Her father, Carmelo Gonzalez, called police to report that he’d discovered her body, which was wrapped inside a garbage bag and stuffed in a laundry basket.

Carmelo Gonzalez told officers that his daughter texted him shortly after he left for work, saying a stranger was knocking on the front door. Concerned that the girl soon stopped responding, the father asked family members to check on her at the apartment, but they were unable to locate her.

“I told her don’t open the door because I am arriving at work, and she responded I am in my bed,” Carmelo Gonzalez told Houston’s Fox 26.

When the father returned, he found the 11-year-old dead but no sign of forced entry at the apartment.

Medical examiners determined that the girl had been strangled, and that she’d been sexually assaulted before dying.

Bruegger said police interviewed neighbors at the apartment building Saturday. Among them was Garcia-Rodriguez, from whom police also collected a DNA sample.

Authorities said Garcia-Rodriguez had been living in the apartment building for three to four weeks but moved out Monday. His two roommates, who did not know the 18-year-old well, told officers that Garcia-Rodriguez said he was leaving to find work somewhere else, but did not turn over his key before moving out.

Originally from Guatemala, Garcia-Rodriguez was last seen at the apartment complex Monday. His current whereabouts are unknown.

No arrest has been made in the case.

Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.