Family of Florida teen allegedly killed by boyfriend holds vigil hours after his arrest
Family holds vigil for dead Florida teen
The family and friends of 17-year-old Sofia Lugo held a vigil Wednesday evening, hours after deputies arrested her boyfriend who is accused of killing her. Saul Garcia Macias was arrested 17 days after Lugo was found dead, and he told deputies that he was lost in the woods all this time.
MARION COUNTY, Fla. - The family and friends of 17-year-old Sofia Lugo held a vigil Wednesday evening, hours after deputies arrested her boyfriend, who is accused of killing her.
For 17 days, detectives with the Marion County Sheriff's Office have wanted to speak with 21-year-old Saul Garcia Macias.
According to an arrest report, his mother and her boyfriend told deputies they woke up to banging on their bedroom door shortly before 1 a.m. on Dec. 10. It was Garcia Macias telling them "masked men" had come into the house and killed his girlfriend. When the couple checked on Lugo, they say Garcia Macias ran from the scene.
Photo: Marion County Sheriff's Office
On Wednesday, more than two weeks after Lugo's shooting death, the sheriff's office received a phone call from Garcia Macias, who claimed he had been lost in the woods all this time. He agreed to meet with detectives and denied killing Lugo. They subsequently arrested him and charged him with second degree murder.
At Wednesday evening's vigil, Lugo's aunt told reporters she doesn't believe Garcia Macias' claim of innocence.
"There's many tests that the police can do to determine if he fired the weapon or if he didn't fire, so if he didn't have nothing to do with it, then he shouldn't have ran. We said if he ran it's because of something, you know, guilt," Andrea Lugo-Aguirre said.
Garcia Macias had run-ins with law enforcement before Lugo's murder.
In November 2016, the sheriff's office said he was suspected of being involved in a string of car burglaries at just 13 years old. A year later, he led deputies on a chase following a car break-in. And in 2021, he was suspected of driving a car in which a passenger was firing shots at deputies and ended up getting away.
Sofia Lugo was found shot to death at her boyfriend's home in Dunnellon (Source: Margarita Aguirre)
Investigators have asked that Garcia Macias be held on no bond as he is in the country illegally and has been known to leave the country when in trouble, according to deputies.