CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A North Carolina man was arrested in what is being called a demonic Easter Sunday murder after a woman’s body was found mutilated, “unrecognizable,” and scattered at an apartment complex. The gruesome homicide scene was also surrounded by makeshift wooden crosses and salt, Mecklenburg County prosecutors said.
Miguel Gonzales-Rasalas, 36, was taken into custody on Sunday with blood and scratches on his face. He is accused of the deranged murder of his neighbor, Laura Miller, 35, inside an east Charlotte apartment.
On Tuesday, prosecutors revealed in court that the woman’s face was shredded “to the point it was unrecognizable” and her body was desecrated at the Stone Gate Apartments, Live 5 News reported.
Gonzales-Rasalas reportedly wrapped a wire several times around Miller’s neck, bound her ankles with a cable, burned both of her inner thighs, sliced the woman from her neck to her navel and severed her tongue, which was found in the dining room of the apartment. Moreover, human tissue was found “scattered” throughout the unit, prosecutors revealed.
Lastly, Gonzales-Rasalas allegedly poured salt around Miller’s desecrated body and dismantled a table to create three crosses that he placed around her. The suspect then left in the woman’s car, the New York Post reported.
According to prosecutors, police first responded to a 911 call made by the brother of the suspect. He reported finding a mutilated female body inside the apartment. Officers later found Gonzales-Rasalas driving Miller’s vehicle and arrested him.
The suspect and victim reportedly knew one another and police believe the homicide was a targeted crime, not random at all.
Gonzales-Rasalas and Miller were “acquaintances” that lived in the same building. The two often argued with one another, neighbors told WSOC-TV.
One local resident said the accused killer showed up at Miller’s doorstep three days before the grisly murder with a baseball bat, threatening the woman.
“He was asking Laura to open the door or else he was going to kill her,” the neighbor said.
Gonzales-Rasalas was quickly identified as a suspect and was arrested once police found him driving Miller’s vehicle. He faces charges of murder, desecrating a body and vehicular theft, and is being held without bond.
