A man was charged on Saturday with murdering his live-in girlfriend during a fight in their apartment, the latest twist in a weeklong mystery that began when the slain woman's four-year-old daughter was found walking alone in a New York City street in the middle of the night, authorities said.
Cesar Ascarrunz, 32, was arrested on murder charges two days after he was picked up by investigators, police said. Ascarrunz allegedly confessed to the crime, and acknowledged putting his girlfriend's body into a trash bag and dumping it on a corner in the New York borough of Queens.
Police were still searching on Saturday for the remains of Monica Lozada, 26, who was last seen alive on Sept. 24.
She is believed to be from Bolivia.
Investigators were led to Ascarrunz by a dozen tips that came in from the public after four-year-old Valerie Lozada appeared on television on Thursday, describing her mother as looking "like a princess."
Mystery girl
The little girl remained in a foster home on Saturday.
"This child has captured the hearts of all New Yorkers," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. "I hope she can grow up to lead a normal life."
Ascarrunz, who lived with the Lozadas in an apartment in Queens, abandoned the girl in the middle of the night after the slaying, Brown said.
In addition to the murder charge, Ascarrunz was charged with reckless endangerment, endangering the welfare of a child, and child abandonment, Brown said. He was additionally accused of evidence tampering for dumping the body.
Ascarrunz faces 25 years to life on the murder count. Brown said he planned to ask for no bail when the defendant was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court.
According to a law enforcement source, Ascarrunz and Lozada were fighting in their apartment before the slaying. He claimed that she came at him with a knife, and that he put her in a chokehold until she went limp, the source said.
Lozada was described as being of thin build: 1.68m, 47kg.
Ascarrunz then allegedly placed Lozada's body in a bedroom, and two days later put it into a garbage bag and dumped it in a pile of trash on a street corner, the source said.
Six-day search
It wasn't until Friday, after six days of digging and about 100 phone calls from the public, that police finally identified the girl's mother.
After Valerie was found barefoot and shivering on the streets in Queens, she told residents that her father had dropped her off and had driven away.
"She was scared, she was crying," said Kevin Flood, 34, a city firefighter who gave Valerie a drink and a fruit snack that night. "She said her daddy had left her on the corner."
Flood, who has a three-month-old son, said he walked around the corner of his block in the quiet neighborhood, thinking he would find the girl's dad. Instead, the street was empty.
"I thought maybe he would have a heart," Flood said.
According to Flood, the girl's hair was tousled as if she'd just been awakened. Her cries from the street awakened several neighbors, who provided the girl with a blanket and summoned police.
The girl showed no signs of abuse or neglect.
The little girl was turned over to the Administration for Children's Services for care as police tried to unravel the mystery of the lost girl.
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Packed crowds in India celebrating their cricket team’s victory ended in a deadly stampede on Wednesday, with 11 mainly young fans crushed to death, the local state’s chief minister said. Joyous cricket fans had come out to celebrate and welcome home their heroes, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, after they beat Punjab Kings in a roller-coaster Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket final on Tuesday night. However, the euphoria of the vast crowds in the southern tech city of Bengaluru ended in disaster, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra calling it “absolutely heartrending.” Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said most of the deceased are young, with 11 dead
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS