A man has been charged with killing his girlfriend nearly three months after she was found dead on the side of Interstate 95 in Florida.
The body of Nahomi Cittadini, 21, was found by Florida Highway Patrol troopers on the morning of Dec. 7 on a ramp near Ives Dairy Road in Miami-Dade County, according to Local 10.
That day, police responded to multiple reports of a couple arguing as they stood alongside the highway shortly after 6 a.m., per WSVN.
“Multiple people were actually calling as they were driving by, saying that people were arguing on the side of the road. Short time after, FHP arrives and finds a body of a deceased female on the side of the road,” Miami-Dade Police Department Detective Luis Sierra said at the time, WSVN reports.
When Florida Highway Patrol troopers showed up, they found the young woman deceased. “At this point, the female is undressed,” Sierra told the outlet. “There is a piece of clothing next to here, so I wouldn’t be able to tell you how exactly her clothes were removed, but there is some clothing next to her body.”
Cittadini’s boyfriend, Lorent Junior Pion, 29, was soon named a person of interest in the woman’s death. He was arrested shortly after her body was found and faced several charges related to fleeing from police, but he wasn’t charged with Cittadini’s murder until now.
Broward County Sheriff’s Office
At the time of the incident, Pion allegedly told police that his girlfriend had been hit by a car after jumping out of his vehicle during an argument, but his arrest warrant contradicts that, CBS News claims.
The arrest warrant reportedly states that a Florida Department of Transportation worker looked at traffic footage from the area that day and saw video of a man punching a woman and pulling her toward the interstate, per CBS News. The witness reportedly said the woman could be seen trying to crawl back to the emergency shoulder, but allegedly “the subject punched the victim and dragged her back to the far-right lane in the path of oncoming traffic.”
Cittadini was then struck by an oncoming sedan, the warrant states, per Local 10.
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An assistant medical examiner later arrived at the scene and “determined that the victim’s injuries were caused by blunt force trauma due to being struck by a vehicle,” the warrant reportedly says.
The warrant also reportedly states that blood was found both on the inside and outside of Pion’s car, and that Cittadini had previously filed a protective order against Pion after a prior incident of physical violence in Miami Beach last August,
Pion is now charged with second-degree murder. Cittadini’s mother told CBS News she’s hoping Pion will face justice for his alleged crimes. “I know that’s not going to bring my daughter back, but at least she’ll rest easier. He has to pay,” she said.
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