11-year-old girl found strangled to death under bed, police say

PASADENA, Texas — An 11-year-old Texas girl was sexually assaulted and found strangled to death under a bed at her home on Saturday, authorities said.

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According to a news release on Tuesday from the Pasadena Police Department, Maria Gonzalez, of Pasadena, was pronounced dead in her apartment shortly after her father called 911 at 3:07 p.m. CDT.

The girl’s father, Carmelo Gonzalez, said he had been at work and received a text from his daughter at about 10 a.m. on Saturday, stating that someone was knocking at their front door of their suburban Houston apartment, KRIV-TV reported.

“I told her don’t open the door because I am arriving at work, and she responded I am in my bed,” Gonzalez told the television station.

Gonzalez said he did not hear from his daughter after the initial text.

“I called and called and called,” he told KHOU-TV.

During a news conference, Pasadena Police Department Chief Josh Bruegger said that Carmelo Gonzalez contacted family members who lived at the same apartment complex, asking them to check on Maria, according to the television station.

The girl’s aunt and uncle checked the apartment but were unable to find her, Bruegger said.

Carmelo Gonzalez told police that when he came home at about 3 p.m., he found his daughter’s body wrapped in a trash bag and placed in a laundry basket that was discovered underneath her bed, KHOU reported.

On Monday, the girl’s cause of death was ruled as asphyxiation due to strangulation and blunt force head and neck trauma, according to the medical examiner.

According to police, there was no forced entry into the apartment and there were no suspects, KTRK-TV reported.

“At this point, the father’s alibi checks out, so he is, at this point, not considered a suspect in this investigation,” Bruegger told reporters.

Gonzalez and his daughter have been living at the apartment for about three months, KTRK reported. The girl’s mother lives in Guatemala, according to the television station.

Bruegger called the girl’s death a “violent, violent crime.”

Bruegger told reporters that detectives have taken DNA samples from some people in the complex, KTRK reported.

“Somebody had to have seen something and that’s what we’re asking for,” Bruegger told reporters. “Whoever saw something around 10 a.m. at that apartment, we’re asking them to come forward with any information they might have.”