Suspect allegedly blamed two Black men as key evidence led to arrest in strangulation murder and sexual assault of 11-year-old girl

Maria Gonzalez, Juan Carlos Garcia-Rodriguez

(L) Maria Gonzalez (KTRK screengrab), (R) Juan Carlos Garcia-Rodriguez (Harris County jail)

A Guatemalan migrant who entered U.S. illegally as a minor in January and found refuge in a Pasadena, Texas, apartment complex months later could face capital punishment in the death of an 11-year-old neighbor found sexually assaulted and strangled to death in a laundry basket under her father’s bed two weekends ago.

Juan Carlos Garcia-Rodriguez is back in Texas custody at the Harris County jail on the charge that he murdered Maria Gonzalez at the Main Village apartments on Aug. 12, just 12 days after he turned 18 and several weeks after he started living at the complex.

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