She scratched the killer. His DNA was under her fingernails. Now, he’s doing life in prison.

A Miami man was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for strangling and fatally stabbing an elderly woman inside her West Miami-Dade apartment in March 2013.

Bryan Carlos Rodriguez had been convicted of second-degree murder in the slaying of Elsa Dominguez, 73, whose body was discovered inside her home on the 9400 block of Fontainebleau Boulevard.

Miami-Dade jurors heard that his DNA was found on a drinking glass inside the apartment and under her fingernails. Investigators believe Dominguez scratched him while trying to defend herself.

The jury, in September, convicted Rodriguez, 35, of second-degree murder. He was sentenced by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Diane Ward.

Rodriguez was the great nephew of Dominguez’s through her deceased husband. At trial, defense lawyer Elio Vasquez said Rodriguez was innocent, and his DNA was in the house because he and his mother had visited her a few days earlier.

But Miami-Dade prosecutors Marie Mato and Michael Von Zamft showed jurors visitor logs from the condo building that proved Rodriguez didn’t visit with mother. And Dominguez’s cellphone, stolen from the apartment, was tracked to the area near his home.

The retiree lived alone in a neatly kept apartment in the Fontainebleau neighborhood about 10 miles west of Downtown Miami. At the time, Dominguez’s family grew worried because they had not heard from her. They called a neighbor, who went by her apartment and found her bloodied body.

It was not until 2016 that a DNA hit matched Rodriguez, who by then was serving federal prison time for an identity-theft conviction. Investigators theorized that Rodriguez may have been trying to steal Dominguez’s credit cards.

This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 4:05 PM.