Man arrested in murder of 18-year-old girlfriend: Montgomery County police

MONTGOMERY VILLAGE, Md. - An El Salvadorian national accused of murdering his 18-year-old girlfriend in Montgomery County while under electronic monitoring by Immigration and Customs Enforcement was denied bond in court Monday.

Police say the suspect, 22-year-old Gerber Luis Sanchez Centeno, was wearing an ankle monitor issued by ICE when he came to Maryland from Texas about three weeks ago. 

Centeno is now charged with first-degree murder for allegedly killing his girlfriend.

On Monday, a judge ordered that he remain behind bars.

The lifeless body of 18-year-old Dania Carolina Cruz-Mejia was discovered last Wednesday after a 911 caller reported a fight between a female tenant and her boyfriend off Calypso Place in Gaithersburg. 

Gerber Luis Sanchez Centeno (Montgomery County Department of Police)

Cruz-Mejia's brother found her body and exchanged texts with Centeno.

According to the police report, Centeno said he was sorry, that he didn't mean to kill her, and that he would turn himself in to authorities.

In court Monday, Centeno’s public defender tried to waive the bond hearing. Essentially, Centeno did not plan to challenge his detention. 

Montgomery County Judge Aileen Oliver held a hearing anyway ultimately ruling that it would not be safe to release Centeno.

Cruz-Mejia is also from El Salvador, arriving in the U.S. five months ago, according to a GoFunMe page. Her family is trying to raise enough money to hold a funeral service and send her remains back to her mother in El Salvador.

ICE says Centeno entered the country unlawfully in June where he was diverted to the alternatives to detention program with an ankle monitor. 

ICE says he absconded from the program and they have now lodged a detainer against him with the Montgomery County Detention Center.