A man was arrested last week in connection to the death of a Texas mother of four who was found dead in the trunk of her car last month, authorities said.
Christopher Maldonado was charged with tampering/ fabricating physical evidence with intent to impair (human corpse) in connection to the death of 24-year-old Angela Leean Mitchell, according to Texas City Police.
Texas City Police and US Marshals made the arrest during a traffic stop Friday.
Maldonado was the last person Mitchell was known to have been with before she disappeared, according to a missing persons flyer created by her loved ones.
Mitchell’s decomposing body was found inside the trunk of her white Honda sedan in Texas City on May 11 after police received a report of a foul odor.
Police have not revealed her suspected cause of death, but have cited the case as a “suspicious death investigation.” The Galveston County Medical Examiner is conducting an autopsy.
Mitchell’s mother reported her missing May 6, after she failed to return to her home in Dickinson the night before.
Her mother has criticized local police for not searching her daughter’s car sooner after friends and family tracked down the vehicle the same day they reported her missing, according to ABC 13.
“I met police officers at her vehicle here in Texas City after filing a missing person report and I begged them,” Georgia Mitchell told the local news channel.
“I begged them to please search my daughter’s car. ‘Please search my daughter’s car. Please investigate this’. I begged. I begged the police officers and they just dismissed me.”
Maldonado is being held at the Galveston County Jail on a $200,000 bond.
The Texas mom leaves behind two sons, 7 and 7 months, and two daughters, 9 and 3.