Police found the victim -- 35-year-old Oscar Rene Arita -- in a parking lot at the Brentwood East Apartments after receiving a 911 call at about 5:15 a.m. Sunday.
The body was found "in the parking lot itself, not in a car or anything, just lying in a parking lot itself," Jim Sughrue of the Raleigh Police Department said.
On Sunday afternoon, police charged Juan Carlos Aguilar Alvarado, 25, with Arita's murder.
Police said Arita had been stabbed to death and lived at the Brentwood East Apartments, which is located on Bonneville Court near New Hope Church Road.
Investigators cordoned off the parking lot to collect evidence and used dogs to search the area.
They also set up a checkpoint at the apartment complex to gather information from residents.
"Police ask(ed) me if I had any idea what happened," Jones Lekwuwa said. "I said no."
Lekwuwa has lived at the Brentwood East Apartments for seven years.
"The apartments are always congested with no parking space, and it's sometimes a noisy environment," Lekwuwa said.
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