Man charged in `mystery girl' case

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.