A Florida man reported his girlfriend missing in October, even musing to a friend that immigration agents might have taken her.
But authorities have now charged Saul Garcia Gonzalez with the murder in the death of 37-year-old Nerida Martel, whose body was found on October 11 in a canal near the home she shared with Gonzalez and their 2-year-old daughter. She had been shot to death.
Gonzalez, 40, reported Martel missing on October 9, telling authorities he last saw her on October 6, the Miami Herald reported. He reportedly said she was taking their daughter to daycare and planned to catch a ride to work, but she never made it to work that day.
Gonzalez reported told a friend of Martel’s, concerned about her absence, that she “was possibly in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” the sheriff’s office said. But her name wasn’t found in detention records, and the friend urged Gonzalez to report her missing, so he did.
Investigators say his stories about where and when she was last seen didn’t seem to match up. He told police he last saw her at home when he left to drop their daughter at daycare, but told others he dropped her off at a bus stop. And cell phone records appeared to contradict Gonzalez’s story.
On October 6, for example — the day he claimed was when he last saw her — Martel’s cell phone remained at the home while Gonzalez’s phone traveled to the canal where her body was later found, less than half a mile from the home. Then, the police report says, Gonzalez’s phone returned home and both phones traveled to the canal, where Martel’s phone was turned off.
The report says that police had been called to the home in May by a woman in distress who was screaming for help. A man could be heard yelling in the background, but when police arrived, they could not find the woman who made the call.
According to WTMJ, a friend told investigators that Martel had been looking for a place to stay with her daughter to get out of the relationship.
Police say Gonzalez denied killing Martel. He’s been charged with second degree murder and is being held without bond.
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[Featured image: Saul Garcia Gonzalez/Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation]
