'I Think I Am Going to Have to Kill This Girl'

Two days after a mother of four's body was found in her SUV in Texas, and after an extensive manhunt, her ex-boyfriend has been nabbed in Mexico. Officers from the Pasadena Police Department confirmed Thursday that Daniel Chacon, 30, the primary "person of interest" in the murder of 38-year-old Maira Gutierrez, was arrested late the night before in Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Texas' Laredo, reports KHOU. Local authorities, with help from the US Marshals Service, the DEA, and Customs and Border Patrol, had been on the hunt for Chacon ever since witnesses called 911 on Monday, reporting they heard a woman screaming for help as she was forced into an SUV at gunpoint. After authorities identified Gutierrez, and Chacon as the person they believe abducted her, they started searching for him in earnest.

Hours later, Gutierrez's body was found in her SUV; she'd been fatally shot. According to charging documents cited by KHOU, Chacon's uncle said his nephew stopped by his house sometime during that timeline on Monday, asking for clothes and to use a phone. He's also said to have told his uncle that he "f---ed up." The uncle called the cops, and he told them that on Sunday, the day before Gutierrez went missing, Chacon, who shares a 5-month-old daughter with her, had told him: "I think I am going to have to kill this girl." KHOU details Chacon's "violent past and the victim's attempts to get away from him," including two calls Gutierrez made in September to Pasadena police alleging he'd assaulted her. Court records show the Harris County District Attorney's Office declined charges both times.

Chacon's former common-law wife told the station that he'd tried to kill her "multiple times," but she'd somehow managed to escape the relationship. She also says Gutierrez reached out to her a few weeks ago asking for help, and that she'd advised Gutierrez to "run." KHOU says Chacon's criminal history "shows a pattern of domestic violence" that stretches back a decade, when his ex-common-law wife accused him of punching her; in 2017, she accused him of trying to choke her. Chacon was able to cut a deal with prosecutors in that case, pleading guilty to a misdemeanor, records show. Now, Chacon has been hit with aggravated kidnapping charges in Harris County, though those charges could be upgraded for capital murder, authorities say. In addition to her infant, Gutierrez is survived by three other children, ages 12, 14, and 19, per People. (More kidnapping stories.)