For all her family and friends knew, Carla Maribel Rodriguez’s much-younger mystery boyfriend was a ”sweetheart.”

But the 48-year-old was hiding a big secret that’s only been exposed by the shocking way her life ended, allegedly by multiple gunshots at the hands of the same man she’d been gushing like a teenager about.

Her alleged killer, arrested at the couple’s rented $2.4M Beverly Grove home Sunday, is Emily Emerald Vogdt, 27, a seemingly troubled, trans man who’d been bankrolling the couple’s flashy lifestyle.

Police had been called to the couple’s home on La Peer Avenue, near Third Street, Beverly Grove, just before 8:30 a.m. after reports of gunfire and found Rodriguez had been shot numerous times.

She would die a short time later in the hospital.

Her beloved dog, Prince, who she’d had immortalized on the wall as a portrait, was also allegedly shot dead.

Vogdt is being held at Century Regional Detention Center — an all-female jailhouse — in Lynwood on $3,075,000 bail, which was increased from an initial $2 million due to the seriousness of the crime.

Rodriguez’s brother Joshua Vasquez, 39, told The Post investigators have told his family that Vodgt used his middle name ”Emerald” and was transitioning to become a man.

Vasquez said investigators described Vogdt as “very possessive and obsessed” with his sister – and believes Rodriguez may have been planning to leave the relationship.

Police have alleged the killing stemmed from a domestic dispute.

Detectives were seen removing rifle cases from the couple’s black Lamborghini Urus.

The couple, who’d been dating for almost a year, embraced an extravagant lifestyle, with a lavish Christmas and New Year’s spent in Aspen and Solvang, followed by a sojourn to Mammoth in February, and a decadent three days at the five-star Ritz Carlton, with spectacular views over the cliffs of Dana Point.

Rooms at the hotel start at $1,000 – and her friends were quick to comment: ”Luxurious… that’s fancy… happy for you girl.”

Just three weeks later, Rodriguez would be dead, allegedly murdered in the most horrific fashion at the hands of the new lover she had described as the peanut butter to my jelly.”

Friends and family had assumed she was dating a man, heavily tattooed and with a wispy beard, always wearing sunglasses and trucker hats in photographs.

They were shocked to discover the caring, divorced massage therapist, who moved from Modesto to Los Angeles in December 2024, had a boytoy lover, saying she’d always dated men.

Close friend, Jacqueline Dobson, 64, told the Post: ‘I never met her boyfriend. I didn’t even get a name.”

‘‘She told me he was wonderful to her… “he’s peanut butter to my jelly” and “I’m in love.”’

But Dobson admits she’d grown suspicious of the couple’s extravagant lifestyle of holidays, fine dining – while jaunting through Los Angeles in a black Lamborghini SUV worth about $250,000.

”I was always trying to figure out how they were able to do all these extravagant things,” she said.

”They were living quite a rich and famous life.’’

Records show Vogdt stood to inherit a family trust valued at approximately $2.9 million, tied to a commercial property on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks.

The trust was established by Vogdt’s grandmother, Paula Vogdt, and passed to her daughter, Anita Vogdt, in 2013.

Anita died in 2022, leaving Vogdt as the sole heir. Despite this, Rodriguez had told her mother she was paying $1,000 per month to live in the Airbnb property the couple shared.

A dog sitter who had her own room at the home confirmed the couple’s odd relationship, with the pair living in separate bedrooms. She also said she had been unaware Vogdt was biologically female.

Vodgt has a husky called ”Lucy.”

Attorney Steven Tamer, who represented Vogdt in the trust matter and served as successor trustee, declined to comment.

“I don’t have authority to speak regarding the case,” he said.

Rodriguez’s aunt, Marcella Garcia, 59, said the family had never met Vogdt, and knew almost nothing about the relationship.

”No one in the family had met this person,’ she said.

Garcia said she had assumed her niece was dating a man and was alarmed by photos she later saw online.

”He was a little strange and weird looking,” she said.

Rodriguez had told her she was ‘trying something different’ but gave no further details.

‘I told her I was pleased for her as long as she was happy,’ Garcia said.

Vogdt appeared in court Thursday, but her arraignment was postponed to April 29.

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Four illegal migrants, who are members of the notorious MS-13 gang, have been indicted after they allegedly brutally murdered a 14-year-old boy in a Maryland park.

Jose Vladimir Merlos, 18, Alam Josai Garcia-Padilla, 21, William Cuellar Gutierrez, 19, and a 17-year-old were indicted on charges, including first-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and participation in a criminal organization, according to Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Tara Jackson.

All four indicted are MS-13 gang members and illegal immigrants, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed.

Jefferson Amaya-Ayala, 14, of Washington, DC, was reported missing on Aug. 2, 2025.

Nearly three months later, on Nov. 3, Prince George’s County police announced that officers had recovered “what appeared to be possible human remains” in a park in Prince George’s County.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) later identified the remains as Amaya-Ayala and determined he died from “multiple injuries,” ruling the death a homicide.

Through their investigation, detectives identified the four suspects in the alleged homicide. Authorities said that their preliminary investigation found that Amaya-Ayala “was lured” to the park and murdered on Aug. 2.

Police said that the teen “knew at least one of the four suspects,” adding that the murder appears gang-related. However, the motive remains under investigation.

DHS identified Merlos as a Salvadoran national, who authorities allege is affiliated with MS-13. DHS said he was previously arrested in Washington, DC, on charges including defacing public property and possession of a prohibited weapon after allegedly spray-painting MS-13 gang symbols on homes.

DHS said Garcia-Padilla, 21, also a Salvadoran national alleged to be an MS-13 member, was previously convicted in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia of attempted unlawful possession of ammunition.

He was also found in possession of fraudulent documents, including a lawful permanent resident card and a Social Security card, according to DHS.

The agency said Garcia-Padilla was released from custody during the Biden administration.

Cuellar Gutierrez was also identified by DHS as a Salvadoran national and alleged MS-13 member.

He was previously arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia on multiple weapons-related charges, including possession of a large-capacity ammunition feeding device, possession of an unregistered firearm, carrying a pistol without a license, carrying a pistol without a license in a gun-free zone, and possession of unregistered ammunition.

DHS said he was released from custody during the Biden administration.

A fourth suspect, a 17-year-old, has also been charged.

A mom has been convicted of stabbing her six-year-old son to death before setting her house alight, leaving his younger brother to die as the flames raged.

Jennifer Marie Stately, 37, was convicted just two-and-a-half weeks into her trial on Feb. 26 over the March 15, 2024, deaths of her son Remi, and his sibling Tristan, five.

She fatally stabbed Remi in the chest before using lighter fluid and gasoline to set three blazes around her Red Lake Nation, Minnesota, home, including at the exits, making it impossible for Tristan to escape.

Stately felt the home was “demonized,” her defense lawyer Paul Engh told the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Tristan died from smoke inhalation and the authorities described his mom’s actions as “horrific and unthinkable.”

Rick Evanchec, the FBI Special Agent in Charge, said the two boys had “no chance at survival while in the care of the one person who should have kept them safe.”

Stately left Tristan, described by family in an obituary as an “outgoing, spirited little boy,” to die while she fled with her three-year-old son, Ethan.

Prosecutors said Ethan was covered in sores and had scabs on his feet that made it impossible for him to stand up, as reported by Law and Crime.

An Amber Alert was issued, but it was canceled after a motorist spotted her around 150 miles south of her home.

She initially faced charges of child neglect, malicious punishment, torture and assault but these charges were dropped in April 2024 as the Red Lake Reservation is outside the state court jurisdiction.

She was then indicted for murder and arson on May 6, 2024.

During her trial, Stately’s lawyers tried to present an insanity defense – an argument which was rejected by the jury.

She was found guilty on five first-degree murder charges and one count of arson. Law enforcement has welcomed her conviction.

“We all witnessed the devastating aftermath of Jennifer Stately’s horrific and unthinkable actions that night,” Drew Evans, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent, said.

“We hope that holding her accountable for her crimes will provide some sense of justice for the family and the entire Red Lake community who are forever impacted by the loss of these two young boys.”

In Minnesota, first-degree murder carries a sentence of life in prison. Stately is yet to be sentenced.

A manhunt is underway in Missouri after a deputy was shot and killed Monday afternoon.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said the alert was issued out of Highlandville following the fatal shooting of a Christian County deputy just before 4 p.m. 

The suspect vehicle has been identified as a white 2001 Chevrolet Silverado extended cab pickup truck with Missouri license plate 9MGX36.

Authorities said the truck was seen in the area of the shooting and was last reported traveling southbound on US Route 160 from Route HH in Christian County. US 160 runs south through southern Missouri and crosses into north-central Arkansas east of Harrison.

The vehicle is described as having a silver brush guard, a rusted roof, black body trim, tinted rear windows and a three-ball hitch. No suspect description has been released.

Officials are urging anyone who sees the vehicle not to approach it and to call 911 immediately.

“A deputy in my home county was shot and killed today. Erin and I are praying for his family. May justice be swift,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., called the shooting “a devastating loss in Christian County.”

“As local law enforcement works to bring the suspect to justice, my prayers are with the deputy’s loved ones and those who served shoulder to shoulder with him to keep Missouri safe,” Schmitt wrote in post on X.

Missouri State Rep. Jamie Ray Gragg also shared a message on Facebook following the shooting.

“My heart is broken for our deputy’s family. While they understood that this profession carries risk, senseless acts like this are beyond comprehension,” Gragg wrote.

He asked the community to join him in praying for the deputy’s family and friends, as well as for law enforcement officers “working tirelessly to find this individual while grieving at the same time,” adding that he hopes the situation ends peacefully “with no further bloodshed.”

Blue Alerts are similar to Amber Alerts in that they are designed to quickly notify the public. However, a Blue Alert is issued when a suspect is believed to have seriously injured or killed a law enforcement officer and may pose an ongoing threat.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Christian County Sheriff’s Office for comment.