A suspect is in custody after he allegedly stabbed his cheerleader ex-girlfriend to death at his California home just days before Christmas.
Angelina Camillia Gonzales, 17, was found with multiple stab wounds at a residence in Azusa, California on Friday night.
Her family said the teen’s ex-boyfriend picked her up from a cheerleading banquet on the night of December 20 and brought her back to his house.
Officers with the Azusa Police Department responded to the 300 block of North Soldano Avenue around 10 p.m. that night to find the bloody crime scene. The teen was transported to the local hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Gonzales’ stepfather Robert Caraballo showed up to the gruesome scene a short time later. He told KABC that their family was worried when she had not returned home and that he was able to track her cell phone location to what they say is her ex-boyfriend’s house.
“When I got there, there was already crime scene tape up and forensics and all kinds of stuff,” Caraballo said. “And I ran up to the officers like, ‘Hey, my daughter’s in there. You know, my daughter is in there. I’m trying to find her. She’s not home.’ And that’s when they told me, sit aside for a minute.”
Caraballo explained that he told his step-daughter to stay away from her ex-boyfriend numerous times, but that she had a “really big heart and always saw the good in him.”
Police have not identified the suspect, but have confirmed that he is an 18-year-old acquaintance of the victim and a resident of Azusa.
The suspect is now in custody and the case is being handled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau and is being reviewed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
He is expected to be arraigned on Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office told Fox News Digital.
Meanwhile, the victim’s heartbroken family are left to deal with an unimaginable loss just days before Christmas.
Her family has created a GoFundMe page to help raise money for her funeral. According to the page, the teen would have turned 18 on January 7.
“She was looking forward to that,” Caraballo said. “I’m broken right now, I’m not going to lie to you, because the little bit of time that I had with her, I can’t even.”
The teen had a passion for cheerleading but had also just joined the wrestling team and won her first match.
“She was practicing at home and wanted to be on another stunt team. And that was like her heart cheering for a long time,” Caraballo added.
Her mother Letica Carabello wrote in the GoFundMe, which has raised nearly $17,000 as of Tuesday morning, that her daughter had a heart of gold.
“She had such a great future ahead of her. She had a heart of gold. She was my perfect gorgeous Angel baby,” her mother wrote. “I don’t even have the words to say. I can’t even cope. I need her. Our family is devastated.”
Her brother Ruben Torres told KABC that his sister was “bubbly, happy, funny, and always cracking jokes.”
“It’s unreal, like just the fact that you know, anyone could bring themselves to harm just such a sweet and loving, funny person,” he said. “Always let your family, anyone you know, that you love them. Let them know you’re proud of them.”
