Killer stabbed toddler in horrific random attack as she ran to give her dad a cookie – Metro.co.uk, Metro

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A killer stabbed a toddler in a gruesome random attack as she ran to give her father a cookie.

On Wednesday, Ricardo Austo Utuy was sentenced to 37 years to life in prison for murdering three-year-old Ruby Vasquez at a downtown Los Angeles garment factory in October 2016.

A jury found Utuy, 37, guilty of first degree murder and attempted murder last month.

Ruby’s mother worked at the factory and her father brought her to work on Halloween, which was the day she was killed.

Prosecutors said: ‘When the girl went to give her father a cookie, the mother saw Utuy running toward the 3-year-old. The defendant then stabbed the girl multiple times with a knife. ’

Utuy ran away after the stabbing, but surrendered to police the next morning. Authorities never gave a motive and said that Utuy did not even know the girl’s mother. He had only been working at the factory for two weeks.

After the attack, Los Angeles Police Detective Moses Castillo called it ‘a really bizarre, unprovoked incident that we cannot wrap our minds around.’

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Castillo continued: ‘(Utuy) pretty much said that he had voices coming to him and daring him to kill Ruby, ‘adding that Utuy mentioned a Ouija board.

Eight months before Utuy killed Ruby, he stabbed a woman at a differed downtown Los Angeles factory, where he worked at the time.

Utuy’s first victim recognized Utuy after news outlets reported on Ruby’s murder, police said.

The LAPD released a statement at the time, saying: ‘After seeing Utuy’s photograph (in news reports), an additional victim came forward and provided a statement to detectives linking him to (an) unrelated crime. ”