KATHERINA ALEJANDRA GONZALEZ - 5 yo (8/14) - / Charged: Cousin, Angel Lizandro Sanches-Zenteno (17 yo) - Dallas, TX

Cousin is arrested in strangulation of girl, 5, at Lake Highlands apartments  



Lara Solt/Staff Photographer
Warren Bethel of Red Oak takes a moment of silence after leaving a cross at the apartment door where a 5-year-old girl was found slain Monday.

By SARAH MERVOSH
Staff Writer


Published: 01 September 2014 07:12 PM
Updated: 01 September 2014 11:09 PM

Angel Sanches-Zenteno

A 17-year-old boy faces a capital murder charge and possible deportation after Dallas police tied him to the disappearance and death of his 5-year-old cousin.

The day after police found the missing girl’s body at a Lake Highlands apartment complex, officers arrested Angel Lizandro Sanches-Zenteno early Monday.

He is accused of strangling Katherina Gonzalez and leaving her body in a vacant apartment.

Although authorities have not commented on a possible motive, police Maj. Rob Sherwin said, “We have probable cause to believe strongly that he is responsible for the death of this little girl.”

Police said Katherina didn’t live at the Sontera Palms apartment complex in the 9500 block of Royal Lane but stayed there with an uncle while her parents worked.

An aunt called police to report Katherina missing after she was last seen playing outside with her sisters about 11:30 a.m. Sunday.

Around that time, a neighbor, Freddie Washington, said he saw the girl with Sanches-Zenteno near the apartment where she was found.

He said Katherina was wearing a brown and pink dress and was carrying a Rottweiler puppy. When Washington asked Sanches-Zenteno about the girl, Sanches-Zenteno told him she was his cousin.

Washington, 42, said he was sitting outside his apartment waiting for his daughters to come home when Katherina’s relatives showed up frantically asking residents whether they recognized a photo of the 5-year-old.

He said that after police arrived and began searching, he saw Sanches-Zenteno on the outskirts of the crowd, wearing a burgundy-colored shirt that he apparently had changed into since Washington saw him earlier with Katherina.

Another neighbor, Tamikia Thompson, said she also saw Sanches-Zenteno hanging around the complex during the search Sunday.

After another witness told police he had seen Katherina with Sanches-Zenteno about noon, officers questioned that person, Sanches-Zenteno and his relatives.

Police interviewed Sanches-Zenteno until about 3 a.m. and then booked him into the Dallas County Jail. His bail had not been set Monday.

Police say he entered the country illegally within the last year. It’s unclear whether he lived at the Sontera Palms complex.

Police said he lived in the apartment next to the vacant one where Katherina was found, but neighbors said he had been illegally squatting in the vacant apartment.

Washington said he’d seen Sanches-Zenteno on the patio with two dogs.

“It looked like somebody lived there,” he said.

Thompson, 35, said Sanches-Zenteno had previously lived at the complex but had moved. She said she saw him staying in the vacant apartment when he came to visit.

Thompson, who sometimes stays with an aunt who lives at the complex, said she had befriended Sanches-Zenteno.

She said she sometimes drove him on errands to buy cigarettes or pay his phone bill. He had a 2-month-old daughter and worked in lawn service, she said.

As residents gathered Monday to discuss the tragedy, tributes to the slain girl were left at a small memorial outside the apartment where her body had been found.

Malissa Wesley brought her 7-year-old grandson to leave one of his stuffed animals in memory of the girl he used to play with on the complex’s playground.

She said she’s struggling to talk to her grandchildren about the death of a girl they knew.

“Little girl like that, 5 years old,” she said. “How do you explain it to your grandkids? You can’t.”


http://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/headlines/20140901-update-cousin-charged-in-strangulation-death-of-5-year-old-at-lake-highlands-apartments.ece

Dallas teen accused of raping young cousin before killing her

By Heather Records
Sept. 25, 2014 at 9:52 PM

DALLAS, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Angel Sanches-Zenteno, 17, is accused of raping and killing his 5-year-old cousin, Katherina Gonzalez.

According to Dallas Police, Sanches-Zenteno admitted to killing then raping her.

Katherina was found hanging by a shirt in the closet of a vacant apartment.

Police said she was strangled to death.

They also said Sanches-Zenteno said he was with the girl. However, he said that a man named "Carlos" was the one who killed her.

He also claims Carlos forced him into a closet for more than half an hour while the girl was killed.

Sanches-Zenteno also initially said he did not sexually assault the girl, police documents said.

He later told another investigator he did assault the girl for "less than a minute." He said he only did it because the other man was holding him at gunpoint and told him to.

The 17-year-old is being held in the Dallas County Jail in lieu of $1.5 million dollars bond.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2014/09/25/Dallas-teen-accused-of-raping-young-cousin-before-killing-her/4621411694171/#ixzz3FOZICr6n