Fayetteville man surrenders in Connecticut, confesses to murder
A Fayetteville man accused of killing his girlfriend and kidnapping their daughter surrendered in New Haven on Thursday and confessed to the murder, according to police.
Posted — UpdatedJose Alexander Zelaya, 23, drove to a Walmart and asked store employees where he could find the nearest police station.
He then told West Haven, Conn., police that "he was afraid officers would kill him because he had left his daughter at what he thought was a truck stop and had killed someone in North Carolina," police said.
He was being held in Millford on a $500,000 bond on a first-degree murder charge. He has refused extradition to North Carolina, according to police, and will appear in court again on Jan. 10.
The Cumberland County Sheriff's homidice unit, along with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have placed a detainer on Zelaya to determine if he is in the U.S. legally.
Zelaya is accused of shooting and killing his girlfriend, 22-year-old Miriam Latisha Reyes, at her 2227 Waco Drive home in Fayetteville early Tuesday, kidnapping their 22-month-old daughter, Juliana Reyes, and stealing a neighbor's truck.
A delivery driver found the little girl abandoned in front a closed business at a Newport News, Va., shopping center on Tuesday. She was wearing only a purple T-shirt and dirty diaper but was unharmed.
Juliana is now with her maternal grandparents in Fayetteville.
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