WASHINGTON — A D.C. man is facing second-degree murder charges for allegedly killing his stepdaughter after he stabbed her over 60 times, according to court documents.
Alberto Valle-Carranza is being held without bond after D.C. Judge Renee Raymond determined there was significant probable cause that the 54-year-old man had killed Reyna Garcia-Lopez, 31.
"This is a vicious, horrifying, scenario," Judge Raymond said as she detailed that the victim had been stabbed more than 60 times using multiple weapons.
Police say that on Dec. 19 officers responded to her residence in the 1200 block of 11th Street Northwest after receiving reports of a domestic incident. Upon their arrival, they found a woman with multiple stab wounds who was declared dead at the scene.
According to family members, Garcia-Lopez had only been in the United States for two months. Valle-Carranza had assisted in bringing her to the U.S. from her native Guerrero, Mexico.
Valle-Carranza had been married to Garcia-Lopez's mother who had died two years before her daughter's murder, according to court documents.
Investigators found multiple weapons inside a trashcan including kitchen knives, a butcher knife, and a bloody hatchet. Inside the garbage container, detectives reportedly also located the victim's cell phone.
Details of the injuries indicate that Garcia-Lopez was stabbed and chopped and that she suffered a skull fracture.
Valle-Carranza drove away on his moped, according to a witness testimony. Court documents indicate that he left the vehicle in Virginia, and was being assisted by others to escape to Canada. He planned to eventually make it back to his native country of Mexico, according to court documents.
On Dec. 20. the U.S. Marshals Service's Great Lake Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested Valle-Carranza in Michigan City, Indiana after officers found him on a Greyhound bus.
He was extradited to the District on Feb. 6.
According to court documents, Valle-Carranza has provided varying accounts about the night of the murder. During his arraignment, the prosecutor argued that surveillance video shows that Valle-Carranza was the only person who entered and left the apartment the night of the murder. A roommate who also lived at the home was at work according to prosecutors.
When Valle-Carranza was arrested he allegedly told investigators that he had a difficult relationship with the victim because she, "lacked respect" and had allegedly stolen money from him. The stepfather also accused Garcia-Lopez of being associated with the MS-13 gang.
Following his arrest, Valle-Carranza said his stepdaughter had stabbed herself in the chest and had fallen on her back, according to court documents. He denied ever stabbing her but admitted to hitting her in the head with a glass jar.
A witness told investigators that Valle-Carranza had admitted to them that he had stabbed the victim at least ten times in the head, mouth, stomach, and leg following a dispute.
Valle-Carranza allegedly told the witness that he was confronted by three men at work concerning Garcia-Lopez. When the stepfather confronted her at home, she allegedly pulled out a kitchen knife, that is when court documents allege that Valle-Carranza took the knife and stabbed his stepdaughter multiple times.
The victim's brother says his sister called him the night of the murder telling him that Valle-Carranza had hit her in the head.
Judge Raymond also granted a stay-away order for the victim's siblings.
Valle-Carranza is due back in court on Feb 16.
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