TIJUANA A Cuba-born man was arrested Wednesday in the murder of a deaf-mute 17-year-old girl who had been missing since Feb. 10, authorities announced.
The State Attorney Generals Office identified the suspect as Henry José Puentes Padilla, 33, from the town of Huanabacoa, who allegedly had a relationship with the girl.
The man confessed to killing the teen-ager when she refused to have sexual relations with him, said Ricardo Salas, deputy prosecutor in Tijuana during a press conference.
The mutilated body of Itzel Fontes Ortiz was found around 11 a.m. Tuesday in a sewer, under Fundadores Boulevard, in the eastside neighborhood of Juárez, Salas said.
The teen, originally from the Sinaloa city of Los Mochis, was last seen by her family on Feb. 10, when she left her house to sell bread on the street.
The prosecutor said that police investigators had been to the suspects house, where its believed he killed the girl, and recovered the murder weapon, a hatchet.
Omar.millan@sandiegored.com
