In connection to a chilling Easter Sunday crime, a North Carolina man has been arrested for the brutal murder and mutilation of his neighbor. Her body was left surrounded by salt and makeshift wooden crosses.
Miguel Gonzales-Rasalas, 36, was apprehended the same day with blood and scratches on his face, suspected of the gruesome killing of 35-year-old Laura Miller in her east Charlotte apartment complex. During court proceedings on Tuesday, it was revealed that Miller’s face had been so savagely disfigured that it was rendered unrecognizable.
Gonzales-Rasalas is accused of wrapping a wire around Miller’s neck multiple times, binding her ankles with a cable, and burning her inner thighs. He allegedly sliced her from the neck to the belly button and severed her tongue, which was found in the apartment’s dining room. Prosecutors also reported that human tissue was scattered throughout the unit.
Before fleeing the scene in Miller’s car, Gonzales-Rasalas is said to have poured salt around her mutilated body and fashioned three crosses from a broken table, which he placed around her.
Miller’s brother was the first to discover her ravaged remains and contacted the police.
Authorities believe the murder was not a random act of violence, as Gonzales-Rasalas and Miller were reportedly acquaintances who lived in the same building and often argued. One neighbor recounted that Gonzales-Rasalas had appeared at Miller’s doorstep three days before the murder, brandishing a baseball bat while threatening to kill her if she did not open the door.
Gonzales-Rasalas was identified and apprehended during a traffic stop. He now faces charges of murder, desecration of a body, and vehicular theft, and is being held without bond.