The Wheaton, Md., man charged in the stabbing death of his girlfriend pleaded guilty to first degree murder Tuesday.
Martire Puente-Fulcar, 33, stabbed Marcello Rocio Nikaury, 37, following an argument in their Wheaton apartment last September, the Office of the State's Attorney for Montgomery County said. Nikaury's body was later found in the stairwell by police, who had been called to the residence after receiving a report of a domestic assault.
Puente-Fulcar then traveled to Miami, where he jumped from the ninth floor of a hotel. He was treated at a Miami hospital and later brought back to Montgomery County.
The couple had lived together with Nikaury's three children.
Puente-Fulcar faces a maximum of life in prison when he is sentenced on October 7.
