Report: Teen denies killing 5-year-old cousin in Dallas

DALLAS - Police said the cousin and suspected killer of a 5-year-old girl whose body was found in a vacant apartment told officers that he was actually another victim in the case, reports CBS DFW.

An arrest warrant for 17-year-old Angel Lisandro Sanches-Zenteno states Katherine Alejandra Gonzalez was playing with two 3-year-old girls outside an apartment complex in Dallas Sunday afternoon when the suspect came and took her away. Both little girls identified Sanches-Zenteno to authorities as the last person seen with Gonzalez, according to the station.

However, CBS DFW reports the suspect told police a different story.

The arrest warrant states Sanches-Zenteno admitted that he was with his 5-year-old cousin, but claimed that he was a victim as well. He reportedly said another man - identified as "Carlos" - held him at gunpoint and took the two of them into the vacant apartment where Gonzalez's body was found.

Sanches-Zenteno told officers that, once the three of them were in the apartment, "Carlos" locked him in a closet for half an hour. He said he heard his cousin cry but never saw her again once he got out of the closet. He admitted to being an accomplice in the crime, but denied murdering or raping the little girl.

The station reports Gonzalez's body was found hanging in that same closet with a shirt around her neck, according to the arrest warrant.

Sanches-Zenteno is charged with capital murder in the case. He is currently being held in the Dallas County jail on a $1 million bond. CBS DFW reports crime scene investigators have taken photographs, DNA sample, saliva and fingernail scrapings from the suspect as the Dallas Police Department continues to investigate.