‘Just one more kiss’ — NJ man found covered in woman’s blood

🔪 Man from Ecuador sentenced for attempted murder

🔪 Attacker had just moved to Elizabeth days earlier

🔪 New court documents reveal disturbing details from crime scene

ELIZABETH — A man from Ecuador serving time in New Jersey State Prison for attempted murder was found kneeling over his victim kissing her, according to shocking court documents.

On June 14, 2024, Nelson Lata-Sanchez stabbed a woman several times at an apartment in Elizabeth, according to the Union County Prosecutor's Office.

Earlier this month, he was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder.

Authorities had said that police officers saved the victim's life but didn't reveal much more.

Now, court documents obtained by New Jersey 101.5 reveal the gruesome scene those officers found and how they kept a woman fading in and out of consciousness alive.

Covered in blood at Elizabeth apartments

Witnesses said the 23-year-old Lata-Sanchez moved from Minneapolis to the apartment on Fulton Street in Elizabeth just two days before the horrible stabbing, according to a criminal complaint.

Elizabeth police responded to the apartment after receiving a 911 call from someone who hung up the phone.

The officers — identified by prosecutors as, Christina Pecorella, Victor Valdez, and Selvin Rubi — went inside the apartment and saw blood everywhere, the complaint said.

They found the victim, a woman, lying on her back in one of the apartment bedrooms. She was covered in blood, the complaint said.

Just one more kiss

Lata-Sanchez was kneeling over her and appeared to be kissing her on the lips, the complaint said.

"Just one more kiss," Lata-Sanchez said.

Lata-Sanchez kept repeating the phrase as police officers pulled him off the victim. He was handcuffed so that the officers could focus on helping the woman.

The victim had several stab wounds including one each to her left abdomen, right abdomen, neck, forehead, and left arm. Lata-Sanchez had used a large kitchen knife with a black handle in the attack, police said.

She was "losing a lot of blood" and was fading in and out of consciousness due to blood loss, the complaint said.

Police officers save victim's life

The police officers at the scene quickly applied pressure to each of the victim's stab wounds to slow the bleeding.

She was taken to the ICU at University Hospital in Newark in critical condition.

The woman survived.

Union County Prosecutor William Daniel said it was thanks to officers Pecorella, Valdez, and Rubi.

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"Their swift actions upon arrival at the crime scene helped save the life of the victim," Daniel said.

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