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A 29-year-old Cuban woman was stabbed to death in mid-October in Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, by her partner, who is also the father of their two-year-old daughter.
The alleged assailant, identified as Roberto Buffill-Paredes, 43 years old, was arrested at the scene and faces multiple charges, including murder, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with physical evidence.
The victim was identified by the Fayette County Coroner's Office as Anisleys Font Lantaron.
According to an official statement from the Lexington Police Department, officers responded around 10:45 a.m. on January 15 to a residence located in the 2500 block of Larkin Road - within the Surfside Green apartment complex - after receiving an emergency call.
Upon arriving at the location, officers found a woman with multiple stab wounds, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
The coroner later determined that the cause of death was the wounds inflicted by the stabbing and classified the death as homicide.
The suspect, Roberto Buffill-Paredes, was arrested without incident at the same residence and taken to the Fayette County Detention Center, where he remains in custody with a bond set at one million dollars.
Details revealed by court documents
According to court documents - cited by local press - after causing Anisleys' death, the accused cleaned the crime scene and subsequently wrapped the victim's body in blankets, "in a way that would outrage common familial sensitivity."
The authorities also indicated that Buffill-Paredes admitted to the facts during an interview with the officers, acknowledging not only the assault but also the tampering with evidence.
The accused faces charges of murder due to domestic violence, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with physical evidence, and he appeared before the court for the formal reading of charges on the Friday following his arrest.
"It left us in shock."
The homicide shocked the residents of the building, who claimed not to have noticed any prior signs of violence.
Jesús Moreno, a resident of the complex for almost a decade and father of two young children, expressed his disbelief about what had happened in comments to the local press.
"It’s really scary. It’s a surprise for me; it’s my first experience like this here," said Moreno.
"This people here are very nice, the apartments are very good. I've never felt unsafe," he added.
Although the police assured that there is no threat to the community, the incident left a mark of fear among some residents.
A devastated family and a girl without her mother
The tragedy extends beyond Kentucky. Anisleys Font Lantaron's family faces the pain from afar.
Her sister, Zaendrys Tehuma, resides in Cuba and spoke with local media through a video call, with the help of a translator.
According to her account, she and her sister had a very close relationship before Anisleys' emigration.
"We were confidantes, like best friends," she explained, adding that after moving to the U.S., it became more difficult to maintain such close contact with her sister. "One moves away, and it's hard to keep in touch when you leave the country."
“One day that girl is going to ask where her mother is, and her family won't even know what to tell her, or what is going to happen to her now”, recounted the victim's sister.
The family is also facing an additional difficulty: how to repatriate Anisleys' remains to Cuba for burial.
Mixed reactions on social media
The case has sparked a strong reaction on social media, with messages of grief, disbelief, and calls for justice, but also with comments that reflect the complexity and conflict of the relationship.
Some users highlighted the human tragedy and the impact on the victim's daughter.
"Finally, no words. I can't believe it," "How sad, in the end, she left her daughter all alone," lamented two internet users.
Others emphasized the seriousness of the crime and called for justice.
"Excellent mother. Now a little girl is left without her mom. May the full weight of the law fall on her," wrote one commentator.
However, messages also emerged from people close to the accused who, while not justifying the crime, described previous conflicts and a relationship marked by tension.
Amid the exchange, other voices firmly responded that "no one has the right to take another person's life, and even less to leave a daughter without a family."
"No one knows what their relationship was like, but that doesn’t justify anything," wrote a user.
The death of Anisleys Font Lantaron adds to the list of Cuban women killed by their partners or ex-partners, both on the island and abroad, in a phenomenon that continues to raise alarms among activists and migrant communities.
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