Police said the woman had burns over much of her body before medics took her to a Miami trauma center.
NORTH MIAMI, FL — A 41-year-old North Miami man is accused of sexually abusing his badly burned and unresponsive girlfriend before she was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, police said in an arrest warrant.
Juan Andres Lopez was arrested Friday on a sexual battery charge and several drug charges after investigators reviewed phone records, videos, messages and evidence from the couple’s home. The case centers on what happened before Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews arrived Jan. 27 at a home in the 400 block of Northwest 125th Street.
North Miami police Detective Brian Bohne wrote in the warrant that the 23-year-old woman, whose name was redacted from the public report, had burns over as much as 90% of her body. Medics took her to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where doctors pronounced her dead. Police said Lopez did not seek medical help for about a day after she was injured. Instead, investigators said, he appeared to try to treat her with drugs and searched online for burn care, pain drugs and criminal penalties tied to fentanyl.
Lopez told medics the woman used ecstasy, had a drug problem and did not feel pain, according to the warrant. He also said she had been awake and breathing shortly before he called 911 while they were on a couch. Investigators said Lopez claimed the woman burned herself after lighting a candle to cover the smell of rubbing alcohol, which he said she used to clean feces from a stray cat the couple had brought inside the night before. Bohne wrote that the burns happened by means that were still undetermined, leaving key parts of Lopez’s account unresolved.
Police said Lopez initially refused to let officers enter the home after he said he had spoken with an attorney. Investigators later obtained a search warrant for the house and a cellphone warrant. Data from the phone showed internet searches on Jan. 26, the day before first responders were called, including searches about how to treat second-degree burns, boric acid for burns and oxycodone for burn pain. Bohne wrote that those searches showed Lopez knew how serious the woman’s injuries were and was not seeking the medical care needed for them.
The warrant also cited messages that police said showed Lopez was trying to sedate the woman and move her. Before drugs were delivered around 1 a.m. Jan. 27, investigators said Lopez texted someone that he was going to try to give her ZzzQuil or Xanax to make her drowsy and get her into a car. Later that afternoon, police said, Lopez sent the woman’s sister a Facebook message saying the woman was “going to OD.” Investigators said other texts and WhatsApp messages suggested Lopez believed he would go to jail.
Detectives said videos found on Lopez’s phone showed the woman badly injured and unresponsive. Some videos, recorded between 4:48 a.m. and 6:11 a.m., showed her lying inside a large black plastic tote filled with an unknown liquid that appeared to be soapy water, according to the warrant. Police said Lopez could be heard speaking to her in the videos, including remarks about preventing her from drowning. Investigators also said they found a video recorded about an hour earlier that Lopez later tried to delete. Bohne wrote that the video showed Lopez sexually abusing the visibly burned and unresponsive woman.
Toxicology results later found cocaine, fentanyl, ketamine and methamphetamine in the woman’s blood, according to the warrant. The public report did not state whether the medical examiner had reached a final finding on the cause or manner of death. That leaves open one of the central questions in the case: whether the woman was alive when the alleged sexual battery happened and what role, if any, burns or drugs played in her death.
After Lopez’s arrest, a Miami-Dade judge ordered him held without bond on charges that include sexual battery of a physically helpless victim and methamphetamine trafficking. Police records also listed other drug-related counts. Lopez was identified in an arrest report as a Texas-born security guard. He was being held Monday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami-Dade County.
A neighbor who asked not to be named said there had been “definitely red flags” at the home in recent months. The neighbor said he saw the woman being carried out and later saw police serving warrants at the property. “It was a meticulous process,” the neighbor said. “It does not surprise me, which is kind of sad and scary.” The neighbor said he was relieved authorities had acted, while the investigation continued around a house that had drawn concern nearby.
Police have not said whether more charges are expected. As of Monday, investigators had described the burn source as undetermined, the woman’s name remained redacted in public records and the medical examiner’s final conclusions had not been included in the arrest warrant.
Author note: Last updated May 19, 2026.