Miguel Luiz Lobo (left) and Martha Guzman (right) (Miami Police Department)
A Florida man now faces the death penalty after jurors convicted him of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s 11-year-old daughter. Authorities said that Miguel Ruiz Lobo, 51, tried to make others believe that young Martha Guzman died by suicide because she had a history of cutting, but his DNA was under her fingernails, indicating that she struggled as he killed her.
Guzman was stabbed in the throat and had her wrists slashed. Detectives determined that due to her wrist injuries, there was no way she could have stabbed herself in the throat. Lobo was found with scratches on his face and arms.
“I am very appreciative of the good work by prosecutors Laura Adams and Natalie Snyder on this terribly challenging and tragic case,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said. “It is so difficult to fathom, and so very heartbreaking to learn, how much young Martha suffered before being brutally killed by someone whom she should have been able to trust to protect her. Hopefully, this verdict has provided some measure of justice to her beloved mother.”
Guzman’s mother reportedly filed several restraining orders against Lobo in the months leading up to her daughter’s death, but each of these were denied. Detectives believe Lobo killed Guzman because the young girl allegedly convinced her mother to break up with Lobo.
The mother found her dead in their home in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami, Florida, on June 22, 2014. Guzman’s mother found her with the knife in her throat. Another one of the mother’s children, a 3-year-old, was inside the home when Guzman was killed. Originally, the defendant claimed that he had not seen the victim for days before her death, but surveillance footage from a neighbor placed him at the house for about a half-hour on the day of the murder.
Vanessa Bein and Christina Bubba contributed to this report.
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