MIAMI – A man accused of killing an 11-year-old Miami girl and trying to make it look like a suicide was denied bond Tuesday.
Miguel Ruiz Lobo proclaimed his innocence as he faced a judge during his initial court appearance.
Miami Police Chief Manuel Orosa said Lobo, 42, killed Martha Guzman on June 22, slashing the girl's wrists to make it look like she killed herself.
"I am innocent," Lobo told the judge through an interpreter. "I had nothing to do with that."
Orosa said Lobo, who was an ex-boyfriend of Guzman's mother, used a hidden key to enter the girl's Little Havana apartment while she was home alone.
"He restrained her and after he killed her he slashed her wrists, but the wrists were slashed so far deep that they almost came off her arm and there's no way that a suicide victim would go that deep to be able to cut almost her entire wrist off her arm," Orosa said.
Orosa said Lobo was upset Guzman convinced her mother to break up with him.
According to the police report, surveillance video showed Lobo entering the home.
The police investigation found DNA underneath Guzman's fingernails linking Lobo to the crime.
Guzman's father cried as he watched Lobo face the judge.
"He killed my daughter," Jorge Guzman told Local 10 News.
Jorge Guzman said he feels better knowing Lobo will remain in jail.