San Elizario teen died due to ‘homicidal violence, asphyxia,’ according to affidavit

A 15-year-old girl died due to asphyxia by her 18-year-old ex-boyfriend, according to an El Paso County Sheriff’s Office affidavit.

According to the affidavit, deputies were sent to Alejandra Arango’s San Elizario home shortly before 4 p.m. on Aug. 5 where they met with her mother.

Her mother, Rose Chavira, said she went into the bathroom and pulled back the curtain to find her daughter lying on her back in a partially-filled tub.

Chavira told deputies that they both shower and that no one in the home takes baths. Deputies found a green sock that was wadded in the drain matching another in the laundry.

Arango was found with her hands resting on her chest, and her legs not curled underneath her. There was no damage to fixtures and no blood or other biological evidence. The way she was found and how the shower curtain was closed was inconsistent with an accidental fall, according to the affidavit.

Deputy Medical Examiner Mario Rascon did the autopsy and found ruptured blood vessels on the victim’s face and eyes, caused by pressure to the neck. He ruled out suicide and natural death. Cause of death: “homicidal violence, including asphyxia.”

When Adrian Garcia, her ex-boyfriend, was interviewed and told of the death, he didn’t ask what happened to her or where she was found, according to the affidavit.

He said he saw her around 7 am. He voluntarily went to EPSO headquarters, was Mirandized, and said he went there about 7 a.m. to ask her about their recent breakup. He wanted an answer why she no longer wanted to be with him.

She told him she found someone else. He said he left her alive and crying and between 7:45 and 8 a.m. and said that as he was leaving, he told her “karma” would get her.

Garcia was taken arrested on Aug. 29 and charged with the murder of Arango. He is being held in the El Paso County Detention facility under a $250,000 bond.