PASADENA, Texas — The mother of the 11-year-old Pasadena girl who was found dead in her home Saturday said she wants the person responsible caught and punished.
Ana Elizabeth Xitumul Saput's daughter -- Maria Gonzalez, 11 -- was strangled and sexually assaulted at her home while her dad was at work, Pasadena police said. Her body was found wrapped in a trash bag and stuffed in a laundry basket that was put beneath her bed.
Maria, her mom and her dad, Carmelo Gonzalez, are all from Guatemala. Xitumul Saput said her daughter moved to the U.S. to be with her dad while he worked to support the family that was still in Guatemala.
Maria was scheduled to permanently return back to Guatemala in October.
"She was good where she was," Xitumul Saput said. "They did not have a right to take the life of my angel."
Xitumul Saput has to watch from afar, hoping and praying police find her daughter's killer.
"I ask that they find who did this to my daughter and that they give them a life sentence if possible because they caused me great pain," she said. "Because until they find him and show his face, I will not be calm because he took the life of my angel."
READ: Pasadena community steps up to help father of 11-year-old girl who was strangled, sexually assaulted
On Friday, police named a person of interest in the case -- Juan Carlos Garcia-Rodriguez, 18.
Police said he was living at the same apartment complex where Maria stayed but hasn't been seen since Monday afternoon. Pasadena Police Chief Josh Bruegger said investigators interviewed and collected DNA evidence from him the day Maria was found, but they said he wasn't on their radar at the time, and they spoke with him, along with several other people who lived in the area.
Police said there is no warrant out for Garcia-Rodriguez's arrest. Investigators just want to talk to him to get more information, but said they are doing everything they can to bring the suspect to justice.
Maria had just turned 11 in July. Neighbors in her community threw her a party to celebrate.
The community came together Friday to host a vigil for Maria. There's also been a GoFundMe account launched to support Maria's family.