Man Accused of Stabbing Co-worker Says He 'Snapped'

A suspect in the killing of a 19-year-old woman who was found stabbed and covered in blood near the side of a road told a television he "snapped" and never meant to kill her. 

In a jailhouse interview conducted by Oakland station KTVU, 19-year-old Daniel Gross said he acted in self-defense after his friend Lizette Cuesta elbowed him in the ribs, but never meant to kill her. 

"I didn't plan to do this at all," Gross said. 

The confrontation began, Gross says, after he and Cuesta had sex in the back of his fiance Melissa Leonardo's car while Leonardo drove. He told the reporter that all three of them had smoked marijuana and that Cuesta had agreed to be tied up with a yellow rope before their sexual encounter. 

All three worked at the same fast food restaurant in Tracy. 

Cuesta was found around 2 a.m. Monday morning crawling on her stomach about 100 yards along a road near the Bay Area city of Livermore. 

Shortly before dying at a hospital, Cuesta identified the pair to investigators who stabbed her, and left her for dead. 

Gross and his 25-year-old fiance were charged with murder on Wednesday. An arraignment for the pair is scheduled for later on Thursday. 

Melissa Leonardo's car as Leonardo drove. He said all three smoked marijuana that night and that Cuesta had agreed to be tied up with a yellow rope before the sexual encounter.

Investigators with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office found a rope at the spot where Cuesta was abandoned in Livermore.

Cuesta had been out in cold weather for several hours and had crawled on her stomach about 100 yards before she was found Monday around 2 a.m. by people driving by, Alameda County sheriff's Sgt. Ray Kelly said .

Shortly before dying at a hospital, Cuesta told investigators who had attacked her, Alameda County officials said.

Prosecutors on Wednesday charged Gross and 25-year-old Leonardo with murder.

During a court hearing, a judge ejected several of Cuesta's relatives after they yelled at Leonardo "you'll get what you deserve!"

Cuesta's father, Ray Cuesta, told KGO-TV that Lizette brought justice for herself before dying by naming her the people who attacked her.


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