A Florida man allegedly used a screwdriver to break into his ex’s apartment and plunged another into her neck when he saw her in bed with a man

A Florida man is accused of breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment and fatally stabbing her in the neck with a screwdriver after finding her in bed with another man. Josue Zepeda-Urbina, 32, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Cheyna Kimberlin Moreno-Martinez, along with three counts of burglary of an occupied dwelling, according to Law&Crime.

Sarasota police responded around 4 a.m. Sunday to a call about an unresponsive woman at the Applegate Apartments on North Lockwood Ridge Road. Officers found Moreno-Martinez unresponsive inside the apartment, and paramedics later pronounced her dead. Sarasota police said the 31-year-old woman was found dead in what they described as an isolated incident involving a man who knew her.

According to a probable cause affidavit, the victim’s roommate and the man who was in bed with her gave police an account of what happened. The roommate said she had known both Moreno-Martinez and the suspect for about 15 years. She was asleep in her bedroom when she heard the suspect yell something like “I told you,” officers wrote.

Police say the suspect turned on the lights and asked who the other man was

The roommate reportedly ran to the victim’s room and saw her sitting on the bed, bleeding from the neck, and then saw the suspect leaving in his car. The man who was in bed with Moreno-Martinez told police the suspect walked into the room and turned on the lights. Zepeda-Urbina allegedly said, in effect, “This is serious. Who is this?”

That is when Zepeda-Urbina allegedly stabbed the victim in the neck with a screwdriver he was holding in his left hand. Police later tracked him down using Flock cameras and arrested him. Part of his statement to investigators is redacted in the affidavit. However, he told police that he and Moreno-Martinez had dated before they separated and were still on cordial terms.

The suspect claimed that she brought him dinner on the night of the killing and told him to “come by later,” officers wrote. Zepeda-Urbina reportedly said he went to the apartment after leaving a bar but found it locked, so he went back to his car and grabbed two screwdrivers. He allegedly used one of them to get inside the apartment.

According to police, he said he walked into the bedroom and saw the woman with another man. He told investigators that he stabbed the mattress once and the victim once, using the screwdriver in his left hand. Attacks by former partners have surfaced in other recent cases, including one where a single mother was allegedly stabbed by her ex at work.

Flock cameras are automated license plate readers that many police departments use to track vehicles connected to crimes. Officers used them to find the suspect after the roommate saw him driving away. However, police have not said how long it took to locate him or where he was when officers made the arrest after the killing.

In Florida, second-degree murder is a first-degree felony that can carry a sentence of up to life in prison. Zepeda-Urbina has not been convicted, and he is presumed innocent while the case moves through the courts. His claim that the victim invited him over is part of the affidavit, but police have not said whether anyone else confirmed it.

Zepeda-Urbina also told police that he went to a 7-Eleven to buy cigarettes before he was arrested. He is being held at the Sarasota County Jail without bond on the second-degree murder charge and the three burglary counts tied to the break-in at the apartment.

The accused ex-boyfriend is due back in court on Dec. 4, when the case against him is expected to move forward.