Utah man took alcohol shots, called 911 to report he fatally strangled his girlfriend after fight over vape, police say

A Utah man is accused of murdering his girlfriend after a broken vape cartridge sparked a deadly fight between the two, authorities said.

Shorlty after midnight on March 26, Daniel Padilla-Ang, 27, called 911 and allegedly admitted he killed his girlfriend of four months, 20-year-old Sandra Robles, Orem Police Department officers wrote in a probable cause affidavit.

“The reporting party advised dispatch that he had strangled his girlfriend and that she was dead,” the affidavit states. “Before he had disconnected with dispatch, he also advised that they had been drinking and he needed to be taken in.”

When officers arrived one the scene, the affidavit states Padilla-Ang “was found kneeling facing away from officers in the living room with his hands behind his head which appeared to have blood on them.”

Robels’ body was located in the bedroom and the victim “had significant facial injuries, and her face was swollen and covered in blood,” police wrote in the affidavit.

Once in custody, the affidavit states, Padilla-Ang told investigators a vape cartridge broke when he grabbed it from his girlfriend, and she hit him, he claimed.

“Daniel said after he had been hit and pushed by the female victim he grabbed her neck with his right hand and started to choke her,” the affidavit states.

“The female victim then went to the ground, where Daniel stated he punched her in the face, and then started to choke her with both of his hands,” the affidavit continues. “Daniel stated that as he was choking her, he said ‘Die Bitch’ until she was no longer moving.”

The suspect told officers he then put his hand over the victim’s mouth and pinched her nose to see if she would gasp for air, police claimed in the affidavit.

“Daniel stated that when she did not respond he took a couple of shots of alcohol and sent 2 text messages to family members stating that he had just killed someone and that he wouldn’t be seeing them for a while,” the affidavit states. “Daniel admitted numerous times during the interview that he had killed the female victim and that he needed to be locked up.”

Police charged Padilla-Ang with first-degree murder and he was being held without bail, KSTU reported.

At the time of his arrest, the suspect reportedly was on parole in connection to a plea deal he accepted that allowed him to plead guilty to criminal mischief in Orem County in exchange for a dropped domestic violence charge.

He was given a suspended 90-day sentence in the case.

Padilla-Ang’s record also shows he had a domestic violence conviction out of Provo County in 2015 and served five days in jail.