Stamford police have made an arrest in the stabbing murder of 21-year-old Layla Banks, less than 24 hours after finding her body in a hotel hallway.

Police said 20-year-old Juan Diego Botello Garcia, Banks? ex-boyfriend, confessed to the murder around 1 a.m. Sunday after a day on the run.

Banks and Botello Garcia broke up a week ago, police say, and attended a party separately at the Sheraton Stamford Hotel Saturday night. They said the two ran into each other and something sparked Botello?s jealousy. The night ended in Banks? murder.

According to police, Botello Garcia used the knife he usually carried with him to kill Banks. They say she was stabbed multiple times in the head and neck and was left to die.

Police say Botello Garcia has served time for stabbing before.

?I think the system failed this woman in a big way, failed in a domestic violence way and failed to prevent her [from being] involved with a guy who should have been in jail,? Stamford Police Chief Brent Larrabee said. Botello Garcia is being held on more than $1 million bond and will be arraigned in Stamford Superior Court Monday.

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