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.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
RSS