In an interview yesterday, Diaz’s landlady, Jacinta Fernandes, said Cruz was a frequent visitor to the apartment. Diaz introduced her as his girlfriend, Fernandes said, and she usually dropped by at night.

The police were called to the apartment at 9:46 p.m. Wednesday, after Diaz called and said he had accidentally shot Cruz during a struggle over a gun.

When they arrived, Diaz was gone, Cruz was lying dead in the apartment. The state Medical, Examiner’s Office ruled yesterday that she died from a single gunshot wound to the head.

The police found Diaz in Albany after learning he had family there and tracing a cell phone call he had placed to a girlfriend in the Prospect Heights housing project.

Michael J. Healey, a spokesman for the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office, said it is unclear when Diaz will be returned to the state.

“We’re waiting to hear whether he waives extradition,” Healey said. “We won’t know anything until Monday, at which time, if he waives, Rhode Island state marshals will be going to Albany to bring him back.”

It was unclear today what has happened to Cruz's 6-year-old daughter. In a written statement she gave police after the Jan. 18 break-in, she said she awoke at approximately 1:40 a.m. to find Diaz trying to remove the girl from the room.

Diaz struck Cruz several times, Cruz said in the statement, then choked her, holding her against the bedroom mirror. When she was finally able to leave the bedroom, she told the police, she noticed that Cruz had ripped the telephone from the wall.

She sent the girl to her sister’s apartment to get help, but Cruz’s sister, who is not identified by name in the police report, wasn’t home.

Diaz finally left the apartment at 4:30 a.m.

Diaz is described in the police report as Cruz’s ex-boyfriend. Cautioning that he was not commenting on this case in particular, Healey said, “Unfortunately it is fairly common” for a domestic assault victim to continue to associate with the victimizer.

“Oftentimes these relationships are controlled by one person,” Healey said. “It’s very difficult for a whole host of reasons for the person being abused to withdraw.”