Man facing murder charge after 51-year-old woman's body found in canal near Delray Beach

DELRAY BEACH — A 22-year-old man is facing a first-degree murder charge after his arrest this week in connection to the stabbing death of a woman last month near the Kings Point community in suburban Delray Beach.

Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office investigators allege that Christopher Diego Soto fatally stabbed the 51-year-old woman, whose body was found on the morning of June 25 in a canal along the 5500 block of West Atlantic Avenue.

Jail records list Soto, who deputies took into custody Monday, as having an address in Coral Springs, but his arrest report indicates he recently was living with his girlfriend and her grandmother in Kings Point.

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Investigators said the 51-year-old woman had been staying in the same home for a few days after leaving a home nearby following an argument with an older relative.

Soto reportedly told his girlfriend that he had sex with the older woman the morning of June 23. However, the arrest report did not indicate a motive for the killing.

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Soto also faces charges of tampering with evidence and giving a false statement to police. During a hearing Tuesday at the Palm Beach County Jail, Circuit Judge Scott Kerner assigned Soto a public defender and ordered that he be held without bail on the murder charge.

As a policy, the Palm Beach County Public Defender’s Office does not comment on open cases.

Authorities did not disclose the name of the woman who died, saying that her family invoked its right to privacy under a 2018 state constitutional amendment modeled after California’s Marsy’s Law.

According to Soto’s arrest report, the woman had been stabbed eight times, with three stab wounds to the chest penetrating her heart. Her body was partially submerged in the canal and wrapped in a black blanket with a floral pattern.

The arrest report said detectives identified the deceased woman after her relative contacted them following reports of a body being discovered.

The relative told investigators that physical and clothing descriptions provided fit her missing relative. She told investigators that she and her relative had gotten into an argument, prompting the relative to spend a few days staying at a neighbor’s home.

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Soto’s girlfriend confirmed that the 51-year-old woman had been staying with her family prior to disappearing. She told investigators Soto’s behavior had made her and her grandmother suspicious.

Soto’s girlfriend described returning home from work on the afternoon of June 23 and finding that the residence had been cleaned with bleach, a chemical that neither she nor her grandmother regularly used. She also found a shirt on the bathroom floor that appeared to have blood on it.

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Soto’s girlfriend told investigators he dropped her off at work that morning and was supposed to pick her up in the afternoon, but never showed up. Before leaving for work, she observed the 51-year-old woman sleeping on a sofa.

She told investigators Soto was driving her Ford Escape and, while waiting for him to pick her up, she used a smartphone app to track its location. The tracking data placed the Ford within 100 feet of where the body was found, the arrest report said.

Soto denied having any involvement in the woman’s disappearance but later said, “I could be guilty,” when asked if he killed the woman, his girlfriend told investigators.

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Soto told investigators he remained in Kings Point until it was time to pick up his girlfriend. He said he stopped to help a stranded motorist along the way, which prevented him from picking her up.

Surveillance-video footage showing movement in and out of Kings Point contradicted Soto’s statements, the arrest report said. In addition, DNA evidence found inside the vehicle matched the deceased woman, investigators said.

While viewing images of the bed sheet used to cover the woman’s body, Soto’s girlfriend confirmed that the bed sheet was hers, the report said.

Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on Twitter at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Man facing murder charge after woman's body found in Delray Beach canal