The heartbroken mother of a young woman who was found dead on the side of Interstate 95 in northwest Miami-Dade over the weekend is speaking out as police confirmed Monday that a person of interest was behind bars.
Lorent Pion, 29, is facing several charges tied to a police chase that ended in Miramar on Saturday, authorities said.
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The chase happened hours after the body of 22-year-old Nahomi Valentina Cittadini was found in a grassy area near northbound I-95 just north of Ives Dairy Road.
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Miami-Dade Police said they'd received several calls about two people arguing in the area before Florida Highway Patrol troopers responded and found Cittadini's body.
Authorities haven't said how she was killed but said she was found without clothes on.
"They never told me my daughter was found naked and thrown like an animal," mother Maria Benitez said Monday in Spanish.
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Benitez said her daughter, who lived in Deerfield Beach, had been celebrating a friend's birthday in Miami just hours before she was found dead.
She said her daughter had been in a relationship with Pion but after the two broke up, he continued to stalk her.
"They had a relationship, he hit her, he hit my daughter, and they went to the cops to say something about it, she has a restraining order," Benitez said. "He was always appearing everywhere. A few months ago, she went to New York and he appeared in New York. Everywhere she went, he would appear."
Pion was arrested after a pursuit of a black BMW on Interstate 75 that ended in a crash on Miramar parkway involving several cars including one that had a baby inside.
Police said Pion tried to run but was quickly caught, police said. He was arrested by Miramar Police and booked into jail on charges including aggravated fleeing with injury or damage, failure to stop at the scene of a crash and resisting an officer.
Pion hasn't been charged in Cittadini's death but police are questioning him about his possible involvement.
A judge has ordered Pion held without bond for a probation violation.
Meanwhile, Benitez is hoping to get justice for her daughter, and has set up a GoFundMe to pay for funeral expenses.
"She was my baby, her heart was enormous. Everyone who knew her knew she was always happy with everyone and just very happy," she said.
