Authorities have arrested a Florida man in connection with the death of a woman after her young child was seen in public with blood on her face and clothes.
Maria Camila Garcia-Molina, 24, was found fatally stabbed inside her car in Miami, Florida, on Saturday, April 24, according to a press release from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.
Joy Chandra Nath, 29, was arrested in connection with the case. The Miami Herald, WSVN, and CBS identified him as the victim’s former boyfriend.
Police were dispatched to Garcia-Molina’s home after her 3-year-old daughter was seen wandering around the parking lot of her family’s residential complex, with what appeared to be dried blood on her face and clothes, according to the sheriff’s office.
A neighbor noticed the child and took her to the girl’s grandmother, who alerted a sheriff’s deputy.
According to the MDSO, responding officers attempted to locate the child’s mother, Garcia-Molina, at her home but were unsuccessful. They then discovered the woman in her vehicle during a search of the area.
She was found with several stab wounds and pronounced dead at the scene, according to the MDSO.
According to unspecified court documents cited by the Miami Herald, Nath allegedly stalked Garcia-Molina in the weeks preceding her death.
Following the couple’s split in November, Nath allegedly showed up at the woman’s workplace and told her he had left something for her in her car; she later discovered an Apple Air Tag attached to her vehicle, according to the document, the Herald reports.
He was served with a temporary restraining order, but it was lifted after Garcia-Molina failed to appear for a hearing, according to court records.
According to the documents, Nath allegedly arrived at a mall where Garcia-Molina was meeting her current boyfriend the day before the murder and got into an altercation with him.
Nath allegedly told police that he had breakfast with the victim and her child on the morning of the murder. According to court documents, when authorities discovered him in her neighborhood following the murder, he allegedly claimed to be there to return her belongings.
In a GoFundMe page set up to help Garcia-Molina’s family, she is remembered as a hardworking mother with a promising future.
“Camila was the most beautiful and loving girl that you can ever imagine,” her mother wrote in the fundraiser. Garcia-Molina’s mother claimed that she “had dreams, plans, and a beautiful future ahead of her that was taken away from her too soon.”
Nath was charged with second-degree murder and child abuse, according to Miami-Dade online court records reviewed by PEOPLE. His plea and attorney information were not found in the online records.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or visit thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week in over 170 languages.