The New Orleans man facing charges of second-degree murder for bludgeoning his girlfriend to death reportedly lived in abject poverty as an undocumented immigrant from Honduras. 

Pedro Alberto Monterroso-Navas was apprehended Sunday at a trailer park in Katy, Texas where he had fled with his three his three children.

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According to reports, the 43-year-old suspect was on the run with his daughter, 12-year-old Jessica Nicolle Monterroso, and two sons, 4-year-old Yojan Manuel Monterroso-Flores and 2-year-old Jafet Abigaitl Monterroso-Monroy. The youngest boy was the son of both the killer and the victim.

Police found the victim, 25-year-old Heidy Monroy, dead in her bathtub from what they believed to be blunt force trauma to the head. Although authorities were able to confirm that the young woman had been bludgeoned, they were not immediately able to say what she had been hit with.

What led to the death remains a mystery, but neighbors say the family led a spartan lifestyle with very little furnishing and the occasional power outage. Reportedly, their oldest daughter Jessica often had to act as a mother to her younger siblings as their mother was constantly on her phone and Monterros-Navas was usually out working.

In the weeks leading to Monroy's killing, her family was already a source of concern for neighbors who worried that they didn't have food and electricity. It is also believed that the entire family of seven slept on a single mattress which they dragged out of a dumpster.

Although the immigration status of Monroy has not yet been revealed, authorities confirmed that Monterros-Navas was an undocumented immigrant from Honduras. Acquaintances of the family said Monroy was most likely also from Honduras as she often spoke of her homeland.

It is unclear whether the stress of abject poverty inflicted on him as an undocumented immigrant struggling to survive was what eventually caused Navas to snap.

But given the family's living situation, it seems likely that the overwhelming responsibilities of supporting a family of six could have contributed toward the final outcome.

On Monday, a planeload of Honduran women and their children were deported by the U.S. government as it tried to stem the tide of undocumented aliens from Latin America that had crossed the border in recent years.

Human rights workers said many of these Latin American migrants were fleeing from the poverty and violence in their countries but they often ended up in dire situations in the U.S.

TagsPedro Alberto Monterroso-Navas, New Orleans murder, Heidi Monroy, Honduran illegal migrants, metairie woman killed