Mario Alberto Rodriguez murdered his 19-year-old girlfriend, Donna Guadalupe Zamarron, during a violent attack outside a home in Brownsville, Texas.
On the night of Sept. 1, 2016, officers with the Brownsville Police Department were dispatched to a home in the 100 block of Garden Street.
A 911 call was made regarding a stabbing.
When officers arrived, they found Zamarron suffering from a stab wound to the abdomen.
Emergency medical services transported Zamarron to the Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville, where she underwent surgery.
She succumbed to her injuries four days later, according to the Brownsville Police Department.
Witnesses told police that on the night of the attack, they heard screams emitting from the back of a residence.
Shortly after, Rodriguez, who was 26 at the time, was seen fleeing the area after telling relatives in Spanish that he had stabbed his girlfriend.
A judge then issued a warrant for Rodriguez’s arrest.
Brownsville police officers found him one day after the attack, hiding at a residence in the 400 block of Willow Lane.
He told officers that “he wanted to turn himself in and give a statement.”
Rodriguez was arrested and booked into the county jail.
He was initially charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, but his charges were subsequently upgraded to murder when Zamarron died from her injuries.
His bond was set at $1 million, The Brownsville Herald reported.
The motive for the killing is unknown, and a photo of the victim is unavailable.
Rodriguez pleaded guilty on Nov. 13, 2014.
He was sentenced to 30 years in prison after asking 138th State District Judge Arturo Cisneros Nelson to re-arraign him.
He received credit for time served.
Court records showed that Rodriguez would be deported back to his country after sentencing.