Man, 25, charged in Milford Mill killing

A Baltimore County man has been charged with murder in the strangling death of his girlfriend's sister, police said yesterday.

Julio Cesar Aguilar-Mendez, 25, of the first block of Brubar Court in the Milford Mill area was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder, Baltimore County police said.

About 11 p.m. Sunday, officers were called to another apartment on Brubar Court to check on a report of a person in cardiac arrest. Tanya Maria Nieves, 30, was pronounced dead within a few minutes of the officers' arrival, police said. Nieves had been found by her two sisters, who called 911.

Homicide detectives found bruises on Nieves' neck, according to charging documents. An autopsy determined that the cause of death was strangulation, according to the documents.

Police said Nieves had picked up Aguilar-Mendez from a convenience store in Montgomery County and driven him to the apartment that night.