A video was released Thursday that Pembroke Pines Police claim proves a man killed the woman who adopted him.
Gerard Lopes is being held in a Broward County jail and is charged with first-degree murder for the death of 43-year-old Natalie Belmonte. Police allege Lopes dumped the woman's body in a wooded area near her Pines home.
The grainy video is from security cameras from a neighbor's house and police believe it shows 21-year-old Lopes loading Belmonte's dead body in the back of a Lexus.
The incident happened July 16.
In the videos, Belmonte and Lopes leave in the same car and stop at a Walgreen's before heading to a party, authorities said.
The car, a red Lexus, returns with Belmonte and Lopes in it, police said. The time stamp on the video shows the mother and son arrived home around 2:48 a.m.
At 5:09 a.m., the video captures someone moving the vehicle and then backing it into the driveway. Police believe it was Lopes preparing to load Belmonte's body in the trunk.
A few minutes later the person is seen putting bags in the trunk and then leaving the house. Video also captured the person dragging a bag across the street and returning to the home without it.
Lopes told detectives he never left the house that night and that he was passed out because he was drunk from the party., police said.
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Three days later, Belmonte's bludgeoned body was found in a marsh less than a mile from her house. Police arrested Lopes hours after finding the body.
