Ex-boyfriend charged with murder after pregnant 16-year-old found dead on side of the road
The girl’s family said that Jesus Monroy had helped look for her after she went missing
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A Georgia man has been arrested on murder charges after his heavily pregnant ex-girlfriend was found dead by the side of a road.
Mia Campos, 16, was planning her baby shower when her body was discovered on July 15. She was seven months pregnant and her family said she was planning on naming her baby Sebastian, according to Univision Atlanta.
“She was just lying there… already cold,” her mother, Miriam Zarate, said. “I touched her belly, hoping that maybe her baby would still be alive, but too much time had passed.”
The Gwinnett Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy and ruled Campos’ death a homicide, according to The Atlanta-Journal Constitution. Officials have still not released Campos’ cause of death.
Officials arrested Jesus Monroy, 20, on July 17 on charges of making false statements to an officer. He was hit with malice murder, felony murder, feticide and aggravated assault charges on Tuesday. He is currently in the Gwinnett jail without bond, the newspaper reported.
The girl’s mother didn’t expect Monroy to be charged with the crimes.
“I don’t understand because he was here that night,” she told Univision. “He helped us look for her. He found her,” she said. “I don’t know what happened.”
On July 14, the girl’s family members said she had left her home with someone they didn’t know. The family became worried and later tracked the woman’s location to where her family found her body.
The family has created a GoFundMe to help raise the funeral costs for Campos and her baby. So far, the family has raised $21,000 out of a $50,000 goal.
“With all my heart, I ask you for help to give her and her baby a dignified funeral,” Zarate wrote on the website.