The next day, Rodriguez invited Smith to dinner in his apartment. After Smith arrived, Rodriguez stabbed her several times in the arm then slit her throat. Rodriguez left his apartment and drove to Blythe, California, where he arrived at midnight. He rented a motel room and began to call his family members in Lakewood, Washington, notifying them of a body in his apartment. Rodriguez pulled into a parking lot near 14th Avenue, from where he called Munumel, told her he had killed Smith, and asked her to call the police. He also told Munumel he had killed Smith to avenge his sister Techi and those still in The Family rather than himself. He said Smith "didn't understand what she had done wrong" as she was dying. Rodriguez called the murder "the hardest thing I ever did in my life" and said it did not make him feel better. Munumel also said Rodriguez pleaded with her to commit suicide with him then said goodbye to her and hung up. At roughly 2 a.m., Rodriguez shot himself in the head with his handgun.