An illegal immigrant who was released by border agents went on to allegedly kill his girlfriend in Maryland.
Gerber Luis Sanchez-Centeno, 23, has been arrested and charged with murdering Dania Cruz-Mejia, 18, the Montgomery County Department of Police said in a press release.
Cruz-Mejia was found unconscious after her family members went to her home to check on her after not hearing from her for some time. Around 4:20 p.m. on September 18, first responders went to the home and performed life-saving measures on Cruz-Mejia, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
After a brief investigation, Sanchez-Centeno was identified as a suspect in the murder and was arrested on September 20. He was charged with first-degree murder.
Weeks before the murder, Sanchez-Centeno illegally entered the U.S. and was fitted with a GPS tag before he was released into the community, Newsweek reported. By August 8, however, authorities stopped supervising Sanchez-Centeno after he disappeared.
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James Covington, spokesman for Baltimore’s Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), told Newsweek that “Gerber Luis Sanchez-Centeno is an unlawfully present 23-year-old Salvadoran national.”
“U.S. Border Patrol apprehended Sanchez June 2 after he unlawfully entered the United States near Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Later that day, ERO El Paso placed Sanchez into the Alternatives to Detention program with a GPS monitor,” Covington continued. “ERO El Paso terminated Sanchez from [Alternatives to Detention] Aug. 8, as he absconded from the program.”
“ERO Baltimore lodged an immigration detainer against Sanchez Sept 23, 2024 with the Montgomery County Detention Center,” he added.
Cruz-Mejia, the victim, had arrived in the U.S. five months before her murder and was studying cosmetology and learning English, Newsweek reported.
“I went into despair. I went into my principal’s office and I just broke down. It was just so painful,” her teacher, Vivian Salazar, told the outlet. “She was just so excited about learning English, when most kids don’t express themselves, they don’t speak. But she wasn’t afraid.”
The victim’s sister, Maria, also told Newsweek that it “was the saddest day” when she found out Cruz-Mejia was murdered.
“She was a happy girl. She was always very positive to any challenges, problems, that she endured,” Maria told the outlet. “When they told me, it was the saddest day. Dania was one of the people I most loved in my life.”