Erica Pitzi Date last updated: 8/5/2010 1:29:10 AM
Mauricio Lopez is behind bars Wednesday night after police say he was on the run since Sunday after he killed his roommate and drank his blood.
Bartow, FL - It sounds like a scene out of a "Twilight" movie but this story out of a Bartow neighborhood is very real.
"He raced from the front and he looked just like the demon was in him. It was a look you would never forget," said Barbara Nichols who was sitting on her porch that fateful day when her next door neighbor was murdered.
The victim, Marcario Cruz' girlfriend Mariella Mendez ran to Nichols for help. "She was drenched in blood and she said 'Call 911!'" Nichols told us.
Bartow Police say Mauricio Lopez stabbed his roommate Cruz to death over Cruz' relationship with Mendez.
But it is what the accused killer did next that baffles Detective David Wyant. "He was coming out of the house, had a knife in one hand and a cup of blood in the other and he took a drink, held it up in the air and said, 'This is my secret'," said Wyant.
Detectives haven't found the cup or any other evidence that points to the eye-witness' story. "We have no reason to believe she would make something like that up," said Wyant.
Nichols believes it but she's still scared. "That is very frightening," Nichols said.
10 news dug deeper into the arrest warrant and it turns out there is a ritual in Mexico where criminals drink the blood of the murder victim in hopes of preventing law enforcement from finding them.
Nichols doesn't buy it.
Detectives don't either.
Hours later, around 10:30pm Wednesday night, Lopez is behind bars.
Nichols isn't worried about a killer on the loose instead concerned about her neighbor's four small children who witnessed it all.
"My heart goes out to those kids," said Nichols.
Police say Lopez will likely be charged with Second Degree Murder.
Erica Pitzi, 10 News Reporter
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