Police in Houston have apprehended two Venezuelan migrants for the murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who was lured from her home, strangled, and discarded in a bayou.
Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, 21, and Franklin Jose Pena Ramos, 26, were charged with capital murder on Thursday.
Department of Homeland Security sources revealed that Pena Ramos crossed into El Paso, Texas, on May 28. He was released shortly after his interaction with border agents, claiming that he feared for his life if he were sent back to Venezuela and having informed them that he intended to live with his cousin in Houston until his court date in July.
A GPS tracker was placed on Pena Ramos, which was only set to monitor his location for 21 days. It remains unclear whether he was wearing the tracker when Jocelyn was murdered.
The second suspect, Rangel Martinez, crossed the border at El Paso on March 14 and was released with a court date in August. He also had a GPS monitor, but he was removed from the program in May for an unknown reason.
Investigators identified the suspects from surveillance footage that showed them following Jocelyn as she entered a local convenience store.
Her body was discovered in a swampy creek on Monday by a Houston resident who initially mistook her for a floating mannequin.
“I did a U-turn, and I stopped on the bridge, put my flashers on, looked down, and realized it was someone. I parked right here and called 911 immediately,” the resident who found Nungaray says.
The two migrants were arrested at a local apartment complex where they had been living as roommates.
Homeland Security has initiated an investigation into the suspects’ immigration histories.
The victim’s mother, Alexis Nungaray, recounted that her daughter had snuck out of their apartment late Sunday. She expressed her grief and anger to local outlet KHOU, stating that her daughter was taken advantage of by her killers.
“I’m angry that they took advantage of her. She was so young. She was 12, you took my baby away, you took her away. Now, I have to tell her little brother that his older sister is never coming home,” she said.
“She was turning into a beautiful, beautiful young lady,” Alexis added. “I was really looking forward to seeing how she was going to be, and they took every opportunity away from me and my family.”
Houston Mayor John Whitmire said Thursday that Jocelyn’s murder affected him deeply.
“As a grandfather and a father, it doesn’t get any worse,” Whitmire said. “If there is any circumstance where you deny bail, this is it.”
This comes despite the fact that Whitmire has voted against almost all measures to secure the border from 2011 to now:
Authorities in Houston continue to investigate whether Jocelyn’s killers sexually assaulted her.
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