STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) – A Stamford man surrendered to police Sunday and was charged with murder in the stabbing death of his ex-girlfriend, police say.

Juan Botello, 20, also was charged with larceny, police said.

Layla R. Banks, 21, of Greenwich was repeatedly stabbed. Her body was discovered just after 6 a.m. Saturday in a service hallway near the Sheraton Stamford Hotel’s main lobby, police said.

Botello and Banks separately attended a party in the hotel, police Capt. Richard Conklin said at a news conference Sunday.

Botello killed Banks because she broke off their relationship a week ago, Conklin said. The two had known each other for about a year.

, police say

As Banks left the party at about 5:30 a.m., Botello followed her down a stairwell before forcing her into a service hallway on the first floor and killing her, police said, according to The Advocate of Stamford. Police say he fled through an emergency door and stole a car from the house where he had been living in the basement for about two months.

Botello, whose full name is Juan Diego Botello Garcia, according to police, is scheduled to appear in court Monday. Bond was set at $1.025 million.

He remains in custody and is not yet represented by a lawyer, Conklin said.

Botello served nine months for a stabbing in 2005, and Stamford police Chief Brent B. Larrabee criticized the sentence.

“I think the system failed this woman in a big way,” he said. “It failed to prevent her to be involved with a guy who should have been in jail, should not have been on the streets. There’s nothing we can do except extend our sympathies to the family.”

AP-ES-10-14-07 1819EDT