Sixteen-year-old Madison Wells was murdered September 8th, Saturday night at a relative’s house in Long Branch, New Jersey after being stabbed by the twenty-year-old male she was dating

The Long Branch Police Department responded to a call about a stabbing at 10:42 PM Saturday night and found Madison Wells wounded but alive. She died an hour later after arriving at Monmouth Medical Center.

Bryan Cordero-Castro, a former legal visa holder had overstayed his visa and was living in New Jersey illegally, was arrested three hours after the stabbing and charged with murder, attempted escape, and weapons possession last Thursday morning.

The Guatemalan native could be facing thirty years if convicted. He is also facing deportation. He is due back in court October 31.

Friends, family, and teachers gathered in grief to light candles September 12th, Wednesday night and comfort Wells’ s  family.

Yvette Rice one of Madison’s teachers at Long Branch high school tells CBS New York, “It’s tragic, when you see a life, so full of life…Loveable and energetic, taken so quickly.”

Wells was just starting her junior year at Monmouth High School when she was killed. One friend described the pair to the Asbury Park Press as being “inseparable.”

The prosecutor’s office has asked anyone with extra information about the case to call detective Wayne Raynor of the Monmouth County’s prosecutor’s office at 1-800-533-7443 or Long Branch police detective Joseph Spitale at 732-222-1000.