Ex-boyfriend accused of stabbing 17-year-old Azusa cheerleader to death
For the record:
1:34 p.m. Dec. 28, 2024: A previous version of this article gave the date of the killing as Dec. 21. It was Dec. 20.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed criminal charges Tuesday against the ex-boyfriend of a 17-year-old girl who was fatally stabbed last week in Azusa.
Daniel Rodriguez, 18, of Azusa was taken into custody Saturday and subsequently charged with one count of murder.
Prosecutors alleged that the suspect committed the crime using a knife.
Rodriguez, whose arraignment is scheduled for Jan. 8, is being held in jail in lieu of a $2-million bond.
“I want to express my deepest condolences to Angelina Gonzales’s loved ones as they navigate this senseless act of violence and unimaginable grief, especially during this holiday season,” Dist. Atty. Hochman said in a news release Tuesday. “Our office’s Family Violence Division will work to bring the offender to justice for the victim and her family.”
The murder charge comes days after the Dec. 20 stabbing inside a home in the 300 block of North Soldano Avenue in Azusa.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a written statement that officers from the Azusa Police Department responded that Friday night to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon.
Inside a home, officers discovered a 17-year-old girl suffering from stab wounds; she was taken to a hospital, where she later died, the Sheriff's Department said.
The victim’s family identified her as Angelina Camillia Gonzales.
Read more: Teenage cheerleader stabbed to death in Azusa days before Christmas. Police arrest her ex-boyfriend
Robert Caraballo, Angelina’s stepfather, told ABC7 that the suspect had picked Angelina up from a cheerleader banquet and taken her to his home. Her family, not knowing where she was, was eventually able to find her location by tracking her cellphone.
“When I got there, there was already crime scene tape up and forensics and all kinds of stuff. 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 told the station.
Angelina’s mother, Leticia Pimentel Caraballo, created a GoFundMe account to help pay for her daughter’s funeral costs.
The page said Angelina was to celebrate her 18th birthday on Jan. 7.
“She had such a great future ahead of her,” Pimentel Caraballo wrote. “She had a heart of gold. She was my perfect, gorgeous Angel baby.”
“I don't even have the words to say. I can't even cope. I need her,” she added, “Our family is devastated.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
