19-Year-Old Tells Police He Raped, Stabbed Girl To Death At Holy Land

Staff Reports
5:35 p.m. EDT, July 19, 2010

 

WATERBURY — — Francisco Cruz told police that he had a crush on Chloe Ottman, but when she rejected his advances, he raped her, strangled her and stabbed her to death, according to court documents.

Cruz, 19, faces charges including capital felony — which carries the possibility of the death penalty — in the slaying of Ottman,16.

Cruz was arraigned Monday in Superior Court in Waterbury. His bail was kept at $5 million. Cruz was also charged with murder, first-degree sexual assault and second-degree strangulation.

In a statement that accompanied the arrest warrant affidavit, Cruz explained in detail how he strangled, raped and stabbed Ottman to death.

It is "the most chilling statement I've ever read," said a court official.

Cruz, of 17 Hickory St. in Waterbury, told police that he and Ottman had been friends for about two years. Thursday evening, after meeting at the Brass Hill Mall, they decided to go to Holy Land USA — a decrepit religious theme park on a prominent hilltop in the city — and drink, according to the affidavit. It was 7 p.m. by the time they arrived.

After drinking for a while, Cruz "made my move," he told police. Ottman rejected his advances, but he persisted, until she elbowed him in the face, the document states.

"My glasses went flying off my face," he told police. "I got so mad at her. I hate when people hit me on the face. So after she hit me and as she tried to get up, I grabbed her and put her in a choke hold."

Ottman started screaming, Cruz said, so he covered her mouth, but she screamed louder. Then, Cruz told police, he "pushed [his] thumbs into her throat until she stopped screaming." Ottman soon fell unconscious.

Cruz checked to see that she still had a pulse, then he raped her, he told police.

Then he strangled her again until he could feel no pulse, he told police. Then he took a folding knife from his pocket and repeatedly stabbed her in the neck and threw her body in the woods, he told them.

Friends of the victim in court Monday said they trusted Cruz and that Cruz and Ottman had been friends for years.

From: http://www.courant.com/community/waterbury/hc-holy-land-murder-0720-20100719,0,7044501.story