A man accused of attacking his girlfriend with a shovel and a knife, killing her before fatally stabbing her 4-year-old daughter, has been sentenced to death in Florida, according to court records viewed by Us Weekly.
In October 2025, a Hillsborough County jury found Angel Gabriel Cuz Choc guilty of first-degree murder in connection with the April 2024 deaths of Amalia Coc Choc De Pec and her child, Estrella, according to the Office of the State Attorney for Florida’s 13th Judicial Circuit.
He was also found guilty of kidnapping and aggravated child abuse, court records show.
Following their verdict, jurors recommended for Cuz Choc, 33, to be sentenced to death – a penalty prosecutors pursued “because of the heinous, atrocious, and cruel nature of the murders,” the prosecutor’s office said in an October 9, 2025, news release.
On Friday, February 6, Cuz Choc was handed a death sentence in connection with the murder charges, according to court records.
Cuz Choc was represented by the Hillsborough Public Defender’s Office, which did not immediately return Us’ request for comment on Monday, February 9.
During Cuz Choc’s jury trial, jurors were shown surveillance footage that showed him chasing Amalia hours before he violently attacked and killed her and then her daughter, who was found stabbed to death in a bathtub at her mother’s home in Dover, according to prosecutors.
Cuz Choc was accused of beating and stabbing Amalia to death with a shovel and a knife outside of her home on April 24, 2024, prosecutors said.
Then, he went inside “to murder [Estrella] while she is in the bathtub,” court documents say.
Following the killings, according to prosecutors, Cuz Choc was caught on surveillance footage fleeing the home with a backpack. He was accused of getting rid of evidence.
Deputies ultimately found him “hiding in dense brush,” according to court documents, which say he then confessed to “hurting” his girlfriend and Estrella.
During his trial, Cuz Choc testified that he had no recollection of the killings, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors told jurors that Cuz Choc attacked her because he “became enraged when Amalia came home later than expected,” the office of the state attorney said in an October 7, 2025, news release.
In a vote of ten to two, jurors decided that Cuz Choc should be sentenced to death over the killing of Amalia, court documents show. The same number of jurors also decided that he should be sentenced to death over the killing of Estrella, according to court documents.
In a statement on October 9, when it was announced that jurors recommended Cuz Choc’s death penalty, State Attorney Suzy Lopez said that jurors had seen “surveillance video of a joyful 4-year-old girl dancing around with a lollipop.”
The clip showed Estrella and her mother “enjoying a simple, happy moment” at a grocery store shortly before they were killed at their home, according to Lopez.
“Just 30 minutes later, the defendant would brutally murder them both,” Lopez said.
Amalia’s family told jurors at trial that Amalia, who was originally from Guatemala, was in the U.S. for work and would send money to her family, according to prosecutors. They said that she had three other children in Guatemala.
Following his sentence, Cuz Choc filed a motion for judgement of acquittal on February 9, court records show.
Read the full article here
