Dover double-murder suspect accused of killing 2 in Guatemala may face death penalty
DOVER, Fla. - The death penalty may be on the table for the man accused of killing his girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter at their Dover home last month.
On Wednesday, Hillsborough State Attorney Suzy Lopez said her office will seek the death penalty in the case of Angel Gabriel Cuz Choc.
He is accused of attacking Amalia Coc Choc De Pec with a shovel and a knife and leaving her body in a makeshift shed outside the couple’s trailer.
Her 4-year-old daughter was found stabbed to death in the bathtub.
Lopez says on April 25, a friend picked up Coc Choc De Pec at their home. She stated that Cuz Choc called his girlfried dozens of times and became enraged because she didn’t answer.
A few hours later, she said he ran into the mother and daughter at a grocery store.
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Surveillance footage shows the child dancing and twirling while eating a lollipop.
"Watching that surveillance video is truly haunting because we know that she will be brutally murdered just a half hour later," Lopez said.
Cuz Choc took off after the killings, but deputies found him the next day hiding in the woods two miles away from the trailer.
Investigators say Cuz Choc is from Guatemala and was in the country illegally. According to the U.S. Border Patrol, he is wanted in Guatemala for the murder of one woman and the rape and murder of another woman.
"This defendant left his home country of Guatemala and entered the United States with a smuggler last year," Lopez shared. "He admitted to our investigators that he entered the country illegally. We can only imagine that it was not to find a better life but to escape punishment for two murders he committed there. One in January 2022 and one in March 2023."
According to investigators, Cuz Choc told them he met Coc Choc De Pec on Facebook while she and her daughter lived in New Jersey.
Cuz Choc added that he moved to Dover with Coc Choc De Pec and her daughter a few months ago so he could find work as a day laborer.
"I can’t imagine the terror both victims went through as they were brutally attacked by this defendant. A mother and her 4-year-old daughter were savagely stabbed to death. This crime was especially heinous, cruel, and atrocious. As a result of the violent nature of the defendant’s actions and the suffering of the victims, we are seeking the death penalty for both murders. This tragedy is made even worse by the fact that the defendant was in our community illegally," said State Attorney Suzy Lopez.
Cuz Choc has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and aggravated child abuse.
He will remain behind bars without bond until trial.
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