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Left inset: Nahomi Cittadini (WPLG/YouTube). Center inset: Lorent Pion allegedly attacked Nahomi Cittadini on video in August 2024 (WPLG/YouTube). Right inset: Lorent Pion (WPLG/YouTube). Background: The area of Interstate 95 in Florida where Nahomi Cittadini was found dead on Dec. 7, 2024 (WPLG/YouTube).
A Florida man is facing a second-degree murder charge for allegedly hurling his girlfriend into oncoming traffic on Interstate 95, with cops saying he “forcefully dragged” the woman onto the busy roadway — while she desperately tried crawling back to the shoulder — months after he was caught on video attacking her in similar fashion, cops say.
Lorent Pion, 29, is accused of killing Nahomi Cittadini, 22, on Dec. 7 by “forcefully beating her and dragging her” onto I-95 during a fight that they had near the southbound entrance ramp for Ives Dairy Road in northeast Miami-Dade, according to local ABC affiliate WPLG. He was arrested this week and booked at the Broward County Main Jail.
Pion’s arrest warrant, which was obtained by WPLG, details how he allegedly snatched Cittadini out of his SUV on the night of her murder while they were arguing and began attacking her on the side of the road. Police say cameras set up by the Florida Department of Transportation’s Traffic Management Center caught the assault and Cittadini’s slaying on video, with workers being forced to watch in real-time as Pion pummeled the young woman and pulled her into traffic.
“(Cittadini) was on the ground fending off the attacker who was standing over (her) throwing punches,” the arrest warrant says, per WPLG. Pion “forcefully dragged” Cittadini “away from where the black SUV was parked and towards the I-95 lanes of traffic,” where vehicles could be seen swerving to avoid her.
Cittadini “crawled back to the emergency shoulder,” according to police, but Pion “dragged her back to the far-right travel lane in the path of oncoming traffic.” The DOT footage allegedly shows Pion as he “jumped back” before a sedan struck Cittadini, whose family says she was abused by Pion.
“She didn’t want to be with him anymore,” Cittadini’s mother, Maria Benitez, told CBS News Miami in December. “He would just show up everywhere. She even went to New York, and he followed her there. Everywhere she went, he found her.”
After Cittadini was struck and killed on I-95, Pion allegedly attempted “to load” her body into his SUV. He was caught on video dragging her “across the grassy median between I-95 and the Ives Dairy Road on ramp, towards his black SUV,” according to Pion’s arrest warrant.
According to police, a witness came forward while they were investigating the incident and said Pion had shown up at his home “with blood all over his body” on the night Cittadini died.
DOT workers notified police while watching the alleged murder unfold and officers were dispatched to the scene. Pion was taken into custody following a brief car chase and charged for fleeing, but not Cittadini’s murder. He claimed Cittadini was hit by a car and that he was just trying to help her.
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Authorities also learned that Pion was arrested on Aug. 8 for a similar road attack that was caught on video, with the footage being shared and posted online by WPLG. Pion can allegedly be seen punching Cittadini and snatching her by the hair before dragging her around in the street. He was charged with battery and ordered to stay away from her, WPLG reports.
“I am innocent. I didn’t kill my girl,” Pion said in a December letter to the judge overseeing his case. “It was a car accident. And the car that hit her ran away.”
Pion was behind bars Wednesday in the Broward County Main Jail without bond.
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