Mirjana Puhar, who was recently a contestant on the television series America’s Next Top Model was found dead Tuesday in a triple homicide in Charlotte, North Carolina. Puhar reached the 10th episode of the show before being eliminated last year.
Police charged a teen with the deaths of the three in a home in north Charlotte. The murders took place during the day on Tuesday or late Monday night.
Emnamuel Rangel who is 19, has been charged three times with murder in the first degree. The three victims have been identified as Jusmar Gonzaga-Garcia who was 21, Jonathan Alvarado who was 23 and Puhar who was just 19.
Last year Puhar was profiled by a local Charlotte newspaper. She was born following the Kosovo War in Serbia and her family fled her country with only a small amount of money.
About a decade ago, they settled in North Carolina where Puhar attended Queen’s Grant High School now known as East Mecklenburg in Mint Hill. However, she dropped out of school at age 16 and earned her GED from a local community college. The 5-foot-9 Serbian started her modeling career at the age of 12.
Early reports from the investigation indicate that the three victims new one another and that the three killings were in some way drug related.
Rangel also was charged with another slaying on Sunday in Matthews, North Carolina, said authorities. He was one of three charged in the Sunday homicide that took place in a motel, said police. It is not known if the two incidents are related, but police said it was quite suspicious that the same male is involved in both grisly murders cases.
Rangel was arrested on Wednesday without incident by CMPD.
Tuesday officers said they responded to a home in North Charlotte just before 5 p.m. where they found the three people dead in the home. A source tipped the people off about the murders. Police have yet to say how each of the three victims were killed.