A man in Ohio has been indicted for the rape and murder of his girlfriend’s 13-month-old daughter, and could be looking at the death penalty if convicted.
Ashtabula County Prosecutor Nicholas Iarocci said that the county’s Grand Jury secretly indicted Joshua Gurto, 37, Tuesday on eight charges, including two counts of aggravated murder; three counts of murder; one count of rape; one count of felonious assault; and one count of domestic violence.
The man from Conneaut could face the death penalty if convicted of the most serious charge in the October 7 beating death of Sereniti Jazzlynn-Sky Blankenship-Sutley.
The man was arrested on October 27 in Alleghany County, Pennsylvania, the day after he was spotted at a Pittsburgh convenience store.
He spent three weeks on the lam prior to his capture.
A coroner said that Seriniti died from blunt force trauma to her head and body. She died at a local hospital after being found unconscious in Conneaut, northeast of Cleveland.
Iarocci says that Gurto was transferred to the Ashtabula County Jail last week from Allegheny County.
According to a press release from the prosecutor’s office, Gurto’s arraignment will take place ‘in the near future.’
After being questioned in the immediate aftermath of the girl’s death, Gurto reportedly went on the run and spent 3 weeks hiding out in the woods.
In October, he was spotted in surveillance footage filmed in Pennsylvania after hitching a ride with a man who did not recognize him.
The pair were forced to stop at a service station after the man’s pick-up truck broke down.
Police saw Gurto on video, then tracked down the man he had been with and asked them where he said he was going.
That is what led their search to Franklin Park, 120 miles from where Sereniti died.
On October 26, a police officer who had been shown Gurto’s image recognized him in the parking lot of a Sheetz garage.
Gurto then admitted who he was after the officer pulled his gun on him and asked him to identify himself.
He was taken in to custody without a fight, WKYC reported.
When police searched his backpack, they found a map of the state of Pennsylvania and a map of New Jersey. He also had a tent in the bag.