‘I will throw you out of the window.’ Man strangles woman over rent money: cops
An argument over rent money ended violently for a Miami Beach woman when her ex-boyfriend strangled her, held her against her will and threatened to throw her out of a window from their third-floor apartment, police say.
Rudy Marenco, 48, is facing charges of aggravated battery, domestic battery by strangulation and false imprisonment. As of Saturday, he was still in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Marenco and the woman, who was not identified, have known each other for three years and lived together for the last six months, his arrest report read. At some point, they were in a relationship but are no longer.
On the night of May 4, Marenco went into the woman’s room and the argument started over rent money. She told him to leave, and he instead picked up a book and chucked it at her face, causing a bruise, police said.
He grabbed her and threw her onto a bed before strangling her. She tried to scream for help, but he covered her mouth.
“I will throw you out of the window,” he told her.
Marenco eventually went back to his room, and the woman quickly grabbed her dog to leave, the report read. However, he grabbed her again before she could get out the door.
She told him she was going to go to the police, so he again threw her onto her bed and put a pillow over face. He also sat on her chest and took her phone, keys and Apple Watch as he began to erase text messages. What those messages said is unclear.
Marenco’s sister called him during the altercation, giving the woman an opportunity to get out of the apartment with her dog, the report read.
She immediately began to run to the Miami Beach Police Station, just a few blocks from her home. An officer took down what she said happened, she added Marenco had attacked her several times before, police said.
Investigators found injuries that they said were consistent with strangulation — abrasions to her nose, right eye, both forearms and both sides of her neck.
Miami Beach Fire Rescue treated her and took her to Mount Sinai Medical Center to treat a contusion to the head and possible concussion.
A detective called Marenco, who assured authorities he would come in to the station to talk with them once he had spoken with a lawyer.
After several days with Marenco never showing up, police started to look for him and arrested him on Thursday.
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