Family of Texas Girl, 11, Murdered and Stuffed Under Father’s Bed Raises $60,000 for Her Burial

After the lifeless body of an 11-year-old girl was found in a trash bag underneath her father’s bed, her friends and family are working to return her to her home country of Guatemala so she can be buried.

“This family is going through unimaginable pain,” a victim advocate wrote on behalf of the family on a GoFundMe page.

As of Monday, the family has raised $61,000—surpassing the goal of $60,000—to pay for funeral expenses.

Maria Gonzalez was home alone on the morning of Aug. 12 when she texted her father Carmelo Gonzalez at work. In the message, the girl told her dad a stranger was knocking at the door of their Pasadena, Texas, apartment.

Carmelo, who is from Guatemala, told her not to open the door for anyone. Soon after, he lost contact with his daughter.

Carmelo returned home from work and found her body under his bed. Investigators said that she was sexually assaulted by her killer and sustained blunt force trauma to the head.

On Saturday, Juan Carlos Garcias-Rodriguez, 18, was arrested and charged with Maria’s murder, the Pasadena Police Department announced. Detectives discovered a key belonging to the suspect at the scene of the crime.

Maria’s father thanked the community and law enforcement for bringing justice for his daughter and told supporters, “may he [Garcias-Rodriguez] be burdened with the full weight of the law, for what he has done to my daughter.”

The family posted a statement on the GoFundMe site and invited the public to a viewing for the young girl.

“We are inviting our community to stand with us and say our final farewell to our daughter before she returns to Guatemala where she will be laid to rest,” it stated.

“We are regaining our strength and preparing to see Maria for the last time.”