‘I don’t like witnesses’: Man forced to wear murdered girlfriend’s dress and wig before dumping her body deep in the mangroves, prosecutors say

After witnessing his girlfriend’s murder, a man was forced to don the victim’s dress and wig before the suspects made him drive deep into the Florida mangroves to dump her body, prosecutors say.

The investigation began shortly after 9 p.m. Friday when that man walked into the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office to report the murder of his girlfriend, 41-year-old Hiojaira Mercedes Velez-Bonilla.

He had a grim tale to tell.

According to him, Velez-Bonilla lived with her two teenage sons and her cousin, 37-year-old Giselle Marie Santiago Bonilla, who recently moved into the home in the 11000 block of Maybrook Avenue in Riverview, near Tampa. Early Friday morning, Velez-Bonilla and her cousin’s boyfriend, 42-year-old Arnaldo Cintron, got into a verbal argument about paying bills and completing chores around the house, a motion for pretrial detention stated.

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Cintron allegedly shoved Velez-Bonilla to the floor, grabbed a knife and began repeatedly stabbing her while shouting “b—, b—, b—.” The victim’s boyfriend tried to head to the exit, but Cintron and his girlfriend blocked his path, “cornering him” in the kitchen, prosecutors wrote.

“I don’t like witnesses,” Cintron allegedly said.

The defendants then proceeded to force the witness to “help them clean it up” or he “was next,” the witness told investigators. They also took his cellphone, the motion stated. The witness and suspects allegedly spent the next two to four hours cleaning up. As they cleaned, Cintron repeatedly told the witness that he “did this for him” and Santiago Bonilla said the victim was “evil, and she deserved this for the way she treated” the witness, prosecutors wrote.

At one point, the victim’s son apparently came out of his room to ask where his mother was and inquired about the mess. According to the motion, Cintron and Santiago Bonilla told the teen that they were cleaning up a spilled drink and his mom left to go be with another man.

Next, the suspects allegedly made the witness put on one of the victim’s long dresses and don one of her wigs. They collected the cleaning supplies and the alleged murder weapon and dumped them in a trash bag, and Velez-Bonilla’s body was stuffed into a cardboard box and covered with porch screening, the motion said. The suspects allegedly placed the body and trash bag in the victim’s vehicle and forced the witness to drive to an apartment complex to meet a man he knew as “Tarzan.”

“You know one eye Willy is in the back,” Cintron allegedly told “Tarzan” once he entered the car, an apparent reference to the victim, who wore an eye patch due to a medical condition, the motion said.

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Cintron, his girlfriend Santiago Bonilla, and “Tarzan” then allegedly discussed the best ways of getting rid of the victim’s body. Santiago Bonilla suggested they kick the victim’s teeth in and cut off her hands to make it harder to identify her, prosecutors wrote. Eventually, they decided to drive over the Gandy Bridge to St. Petersburg and to a secluded area in the Weedon Island Natural Preserve, the motion stated. They ended up driving back into an area of “dense mangroves” — trees native to The Sunshine State — and parked.

They then allegedly removed the cardboard box with the body and dragged it deep into the mangroves, where they dumped her body. After driving away, the suspects realized they also left behind the trash bag with cleaning supplies and murder weapon, the motion said, so they forced the victim to go back and retrieve it. According to prosecutors, they drove away and dumped the trash bag at an apartment complex.

The defendants then allegedly ordered the witness to clean the car. Cintron also accessed the victim’s bank account, which had a balance of more than $30,000, and offered some of the money to the witness, prosecutors wrote.

After the interview, the witness showed investigators where he dumped his girlfriend’s body.

Cintron stands accused of second-degree murder, unlawfully moving a dead body, tampering with evidence and tampering with a witness. He is in the Hillsborough County Jail without bond. Santiago Bonilla is facing charges of unlawfully moving a dead body, tampering with evidence, accessory after the fact and tampering with a witness. She has a $200,000 bond. They are scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

“This was a brutal act of violence followed by a callous attempt to cover it up,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement. “No life should ever be taken in such a senseless manner, and no attempt to conceal a crime will shield those responsible from justice. Our detectives were relentless, ensuring both individuals were held accountable, and they will now face the full weight of the law.”

The post ‘I don’t like witnesses’: Man forced to wear murdered girlfriend’s dress and wig before dumping her body deep in the mangroves, prosecutors say first appeared on Law & Crime.