A Palm Beach County jury has convicted Coral Springs resident Christopher Soto of second-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence, closing the book on a grim 2023 killing that began with a body pulled from a canal west of Delray Beach. Prosecutors say the woman was stabbed on June 23, 2023, and later found wrapped in a black blanket in the water. Soto, 25, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 18, 2026.
According to a press release from the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office, jurors returned guilty verdicts on May 29 after a five-day trial. The office said Assistant State Attorneys Alexa Ruggiero and Jo Wilensky tried the case and publicly thanked the sheriff’s detectives who spent months chasing leads in the investigation.
Local reporting from WPTV shows deputies discovered the victim’s body on June 25, 2023, in the 5500 block of West Atlantic Avenue. The woman had been wrapped in a black blanket with a floral pattern and dumped in the canal. An autopsy later determined she had been stabbed eight times. Investigators initially turned to the public for help identifying her; her family has since invoked Marsy’s Law to keep her name out of the spotlight.
Evidence and witness accounts
During trial, prosecutors told jurors that forensic testing linked the victim to Soto’s apartment and to a Ford Escape connected to the case. Witnesses testified that Soto had been with the woman in the days before she disappeared. One line in the arrest report, quoted in local coverage, records Soto as saying, “I COULD BE GUILTY” when asked whether he killed her, according to WPTV.
Charges and earlier proceedings
Authorities originally arrested Soto in 2023 on a first-degree murder charge, along with counts for destroying evidence and providing a false statement, according to local reports at the time. Prosecutors ultimately pursued the second-degree murder count at trial, and the State Attorney’s Office says sentencing is set for June 18, 2026. For more on the conviction and the courtroom timeline, see WPBF.
Soto is expected to return to the Palm Beach County courthouse for sentencing on that date, when the judge will hear recommendations and decide his prison term. The State Attorney’s Office has called the guilty verdict the product of detailed investigative work by sheriff’s detectives and its trial team.
