Police have arrested and charged a 24-year-old man over the alleged rape and murder of his teenage girlfriend, who was found stripped and bound in an apartment after suffering months of torture.
The body of 19-year-old Isabella Stroupe was found almost naked and bound with a tow strap in east Charlotte on Friday, according to court records reported by WSCOTV’s Hunter Sáenz.
Her boyfriend, Thomaz Hamilton, 24, initially claimed the couple was having sex when she suffered a suspected heart attack, according to court documents. However, following an autopsy, the medical examiner ruled Stroupe’s death a homicide, Sáenz reported.
She had suffered multiple broken and fractured bones and stab wounds, with the medical examiner finding that she was likely being tortured over a period of several months, court documents state. The medical examiner also ruled that Stroupe would not have been able to consent to sex.
While searching the apartment, police found a bloodstained knife wrapped in cellophane, a baseball bat, a sword, and broken cell phones, along with a blood-covered mattress and clothes, Sáenz reported.
On Tuesday, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Team arrested Hamilton and charged him with murder and rape in the first degree. Court records show Hamilton has a lengthy rap sheet with at least 10 arrests since 2020, including carrying a concealed weapon, resisting a public officer, and driving without insurance or registration.
He is due in court next on May 27.
