An Ector County grand jury indicted a man Monday accused of killing his roommate’s girlfriend while trying to commit a robbery last December.

Kevin Lee Roberts, 23, was first charged last December with the stabbing death of 21-year-old Ashley Williams, the girlfriend of his roommate, Kevin Ramirez.

After calls from neighbors about a disturbance and later a report from Ramirez that his car had been stolen and Williams was missing, officers obtained a search warrant for Ramirez’s and Roberts’ apartment at Quail Run Apartments, 5335 N. Grandview Ave. Witnesses also told police they had seen Roberts cleaning up blood transfer marks outside of the apartment, the affidavit stated.

Roberts was pulled over that night by the Department of Public Safety in the 2016 Chevrolet Impala reported stolen. A red bloodlike substance was found on the vehicle, the report stated.

While being interviewed by Texas Rangers, Roberts admitted to stabbing and killing Williams while he was trying to leave the apartment, the affidavit detailed, and told them he had hidden Williams inside of a large duffel bag and disposed of her body in a dumpster near Eighth Street and Meadow Avenue, where officers later found her body.

Roberts was initially charged with murder, a first-degree felony, and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, a state jail felony, but after reviewing the completed investigation and presenting all the facts to the grand jury, an indictment for capital murder was returned. The release said Ashley Williams was killed during the course of a robbery.

Ramirez told police Roberts had taken his vehicle without his consent, the probable cause affidavit said.

District Attorney Bobby Bland said a capital murder charge requires the murder to be committed while committing another crime, such as robbery or burglary, and has stricter penalties than first-degree murder.

The penalty for first-degree murder is 5 to 99 years in prison with possibility of parole, while capital murder is either life in prison without parole or death.

Bland said they have decided to waive the death penalty for Roberts at this point, but that has the possibility to change during the course of the trial.

Ramirez was also indicted by a grand jury on two counts of sexual assault of a child, but Bland said the case is unrelated to Williams’ murder.

Jail records show Roberts is currently in the Ector County Detention Center and has two bonds totaling $1,025,000.

Roberts has an arraignment to be formally issued the charges scheduled for 3 p.m. March 19, court records show. The hearing will take place in the 161st District Court of Judge John Smith.