DALLAS — The Dallas Police Department arrested a man and charged him in the murder of a woman found dead in an apartment they were in, police said.
Officers were called at about 1:15 a.m. Monday and told that someone had been murdered about 24 hours beforehand in the 1300 block of West Wheatland Road, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Upon arrival, police found the suspect, 34-year-old Omar Lucio, who refused to come outside, police said. At about 3 a.m., Lucio came outside and was arrested, police said.
After entering the apartment, which had a blood trail from the front door to the bathroom and then to the bedroom closet, police said they found the victim, 27-year-old Corinna Rhodes Johnson, unresponsive and wrapped in Lucio's bedding, according to an arrest affidavit.
Dallas Fire-Rescue also responded but Johnson died at the scene.
"It’s horrifying," said Johnson's sister Erica Hernandez. She said her sister had been in a relationship with Lucio for six years -- and that he had hurt her before.
"We told her to get out of it, stop going over there," Hernandez said. "We’ve seen him hurt her several times already and we would tell her don’t go back to him, don’t go back to him."
She said Johnson leaves behind a 7-year-old son. "It's heartbreaking."
According to the affidavit, Lucio told police he and Johnson were out at the bar Backyard in downtown Dallas when they were kicked out, which made Lucio upset. Lucio told police that he and Johnson started arguing and "he snapped" while in a vehicle with her, the affidavit said.
Lucio told police that after he snapped, he started driving back to his apartment and Johnson "was moaning," according to the affidavit.
Police asked Lucio how Johnson got in the apartment, and he said he carried her from there and "thought it was going to be okay and that they could sleep it off and wash it off," the affidavit said.
Lucio told police that after he washed Johnson and laid her in the bed, she told him "it was going to be okay" and stopped breathing a short time later, the affidavit said.
Lucio did not tell police how Johnson ended up wrapped in the bedding and in the closet, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit said police asked Lucio if he hit Johnson with his hand or with something else, and he said he just used his hand. Lucio had visible injuries to his hands, and there appeared to be blood under his fingernail, according to the affidavit.
Lucio was charged with murder and taken to the Dallas County Jail.
Hernandez said the family has started a GoFundMe to raise money to pay for Johnson's funeral. They will also hold a fundraiser on Saturday, April 20 at the Daquiri Dash in Arlington.
They also want to raise awareness for other people who might find themselves in dangerous relationships. "If you're in an abusive relationship, get out now," Hernandez said. "Because it's never going to end."