Lhis Brito-Costa was arrested March 11, according to police, one day after officers found Evelin Carolina Enamorado-Cisnado dead during a welfare check.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte homicide case moved quickly from a welfare check to a murder charge after police said they found 26-year-old Evelin Carolina Enamorado-Cisnado dead in an apartment on March 10 and arrested 23-year-old Lhis Brito-Costa the next day.
The immediate significance of the case lies in its rapid legal turn. Within about 24 hours of the body’s discovery, police had named a suspect, transferred her to jail custody and put the matter into the court system, while the public record still held only a narrow outline of what detectives say happened inside the apartment.
The official chronology begins with a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police response shortly after 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 10, to the 4300 block of Central Avenue in the Eastway Division. Officers were sent on a welfare check and found a woman inside the residence. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The next day, March 11, police located Brito-Costa, took her to the Law Enforcement Center for an interview with homicide detectives and then transferred her to the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office. On Thursday, March 12, police publicly identified the victim as Enamorado-Cisnado and announced that Brito-Costa had been charged with murder.
Local coverage citing court records added the details that pushed the case beyond the police summary. Those documents said a DoorDash driver had arrived at the apartment, noticed a foul smell and was told that a dead woman was inside. Officers then found Enamorado-Cisnado’s body in a closet, behind a door and covered with towels, according to those reports. Court records cited by local media also said Brito-Costa had been in a relationship with Enamorado-Cisnado and was accused of shooting her after learning she was involved with someone else. Police have not publicly released the full warrant narrative, the exact sequence inside the apartment before officers arrived or the identity of the person who spoke with the delivery driver.
In legal terms, the case quickly took on the shape of a serious homicide prosecution. Reports based on court filings described the charge as first-degree murder, a more specific allegation than the shorter wording in the police release. A judge ordered Brito-Costa held without bond, according to those reports, and a court appearance was set for April 2. That sequence matters because it signals prosecutors believed they had enough at the outset to support detention while the investigation continued. Still, many standard pieces of a major homicide case, including a public autopsy summary and a fuller statement of probable cause, had not been released.
The known evidence in the public record remains limited but striking. Investigators described a concealed body, a residence with a noticeable odor and a suspect arrested one day later. Police said crime-scene personnel processed the apartment and collected physical evidence, though they have not publicly listed recovered items. The department also said victim-services staff responded, a sign that officers were handling both a criminal investigation and the immediate aftermath for relatives. Family members later said Enamorado-Cisnado was from Honduras and that they were working to return her body there.
The case has also drawn notice because of the unusual reporting chain that put police at the door. A delivery trip, a foul smell and a statement from someone inside the apartment became the opening steps in a murder investigation. Yet once detectives entered, the case moved in a familiar legal pattern: secure the scene, identify the victim, arrest a suspect, file the charge, seek detention and prepare for the next court date. What remains unresolved is whether the public record will soon fill in the gap between those steps with more forensic and witness detail.
The defendant had been publicly identified, the homicide investigation was still described as active, and the case’s next documented milestone had been a court date set for April 2.
Author note: Last updated April 8, 2026.