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Left: Angel Gabriel Cuz-Choc. Right: Amalia Coc Choc de Pec and her daughter Estrella Anastasia Pec Coc (Hillsborough County State Attorney”s Office).
A Florida man has been sentenced to death for the heinous murders of his girlfriend and her young daughter, a crime that has left a community in shock. Angel Gabriel Cuz-Choc, aged 33, was found guilty of brutally murdering Amalia Coc Choc de Pec, 36, and her 4-year-old daughter, Estrella Anastasia Pec Coc, in a trailer located on a strawberry field.
The jury’s decision to recommend the death penalty over life imprisonment came after Cuz-Choc’s first-degree murder conviction. According to local reports from a Fox affiliate WTVT, Cuz-Choc had unlawfully entered the United States in 2023 and is also suspected of involvement in two separate murders in Guatemala, his home country.
The dreadful events unfolded on April 24, 2024, in a mobile home situated in the 3700 block of Sumner Road in Dover, near Tampa. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office was alerted to the situation around 5:30 p.m. after receiving a call about a deceased woman, as detailed in a news release from the department.
Upon arrival, authorities discovered a trail of horror beginning with a bloody handprint smeared across the side of the mobile home, evidence that Amalia had desperately fought for her life in an attempt to flee the brutality. Inside the trailer, she was found lifeless, lying in a pool of her own blood, while her daughter’s body was discovered in the bathtub of the home.
The suspect had run away, prompting a manhunt that ended after 18 hours when a police dog found the suspect nearby in heavy vegetation, an arrest in which the sheriff’s office released body camera footage. Authorities say the suspect became enraged when his girlfriend came home later than expected
“This is not a sentence anyone celebrates,” remarked State Attorney Suzy Lopez in a statement. “This was one of the most horrific crimes we’ve ever seen in Hillsborough County. The case has now come full circle. Although nothing can bring Amalia and Estrella back, we do believe we’ve achieved justice for them and for their family members who remain in Guatemala.”
Judge Michelle Sisco became emotional during the sentencing hearing while describing the facts of the murder which she called “heinous, atrocious and cruel,” local NBC affiliate WFLA reported.
“[Estrella] sustained at least six significant injuries to her body, two to her neck and four to her right hand,” Sisco reportedly said. “The court finds that the evidence introduced to trial established that [Estrella] was alive and conscious when she received the knife wounds, as demonstrated by Dr. Webb’s testimony that the wounds to [Estrella’s] hands were defensive wounds from grabbing a blade.”