Man accused of stabbing 19-year-old woman says he 'snapped'

ALAMEDA COUNTY, Calif. -- (KRON/AP) -- A suspect in the killing of a 19-year-old woman who was found stabbed and left for dead on a rural road near Livermore says he snapped and never meant to kill her.

Officials confirmed to KRON4 that Daniel Gross, 19, said he acted in self-defense after his friend Lizette Cuesta elbowed him in the ribs. He would not elaborate on how Cuesta ended up stabbed multiple times.

The 19-year-old says the confrontation happened after he and Cuesta had sex in the back of his fiancée Melissa Leonardo's car as Leonardo drove. He says all three worked at the same Carl's Jr. fast food restaurant in Tracy.

He said all three smoked marijuana that night and that Cuesta had agreed to be tied up with a yellow rope before the sexual encounter.

Investigators with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office found a rope at the spot where Cuesta was abandoned in Livermore.

Cuesta was found on Tesla Road on Monday morning, clinging to life. She had been stabbed multiple times and was bleeding badly.

Authorities say she was able to crawl 100 yards and identify her attackers before she died.

Officials on Wednesday charged Gross and 25-year-old Leonardo with murder. They are scheduled to be arraigned Thursday.