Dover double murder: Court documents reveal suspect’s possible motive for killing woman, child

DOVER, Fla. - Newly released documents are shedding more light on a possible motive behind a Dover double murder that claimed the lives of a mother and her 4-year-old daughter. 

According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the victims' roommate called 911 around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday after discovering 36-year-old Amalia Coc Choc de Pec lying face down in a pool of blood outside a Dover mobile home.

Once deputies arrived and determined the woman, who was shirtless and wearing a partially torn bra, was beyond help, they said they went inside and found her four-year-old daughter dead in a bathtub covered in blood in a small pool of water.

Authorities say both victims had been stabbed multiple times. 

According to court documents, surveillance video showed the woman screaming and running away from Angel Gabriel Cuz Choc around 3:40 p.m. 

A neighbor also told investigators that they heard screams around that time but did not call authorities because that was not unusual for the area. 

Deputies say a woman and her 4-year-old child were stabbed to death at a Dover mobile home. 

The documents also state that a trail of blood could be seen from the back of the trailer to where the woman’s body was found. A grill on a corner of the trailer also had a bloody handprint on it, which authorities say means the victim was carried against her will. 

The person who discovered Coc Choc de Pec told detectives that the couple constantly argued and that the suspect physically battered his girlfriend a month earlier. 

Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said Cuz Choc took off after the slayings, running through strawberry fields and into the woods. He was captured by law enforcement about 17 hours later. 

After his arrest, deputies say Cuz Choc admitted to the killings. 

According to the court documents, Cuz Choc called his brothers after the killings and one brother told investigators that his brother confessed to the murders and said he did it because his girlfriend went out with a friend for three hours instead of her allotted hour and a half. 

Hillsborough State Attorney Suzy Lopez fought to keep Cuz Choc behind bars, saying he is a flight risk. Not only did he run from law enforcement, but he was in the country illegally. 

The documents state that Cuz Choc is an illegal immigrant from Guatemala. Detectives say he told them that he entered the United States with help from a coyote, a smuggler who is paid to get people illegally over the border into the U.S.

Pictured: Angel Gabriel Cuz-Choc. Image is courtesy of HCSO. 

The documents state, "The nature and circumstances of these offenses are excessively violent and brutal. The defendant attacked and stabbed his live-in girlfriend multiple times. In addition, he stabbed an innocent and defenseless four-year-old child while she was in the bathtub. The heinous nature of the offenses elevates that probability of danger the defendant’s release poses to our community and establish that no conditions of release will reasonably protect the community from risk of physical harm."

Cuz Choc, who has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and aggravated child abuse, will remain in jail until his trial. 

On Friday, his attorney announced that Cuz-Choc also waived his right to appear at any pre-trial hearing.  

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