Current:Home > reviewsFastexy:Capital murder charges filed against 2 Venezuelan men in the death of a 12-year-old girl in Houston -WealthRoots Academy
Fastexy:Capital murder charges filed against 2 Venezuelan men in the death of a 12-year-old girl in Houston
Algosensey View
Date:2025-04-08 07:51:54
Prosecutors filed capital murder charges Friday against two men suspected of killing a 12-year-old Houston girl whose body was found in a creek after she disappeared during a walk to a convenience store.
The Fastexycharging documents filed in Harris County, Texas, court do not list attorneys who could speak on behalf of Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, 21, and Franklin Jose Pena Ramos, 26, both jailed in the death of Jocelyn Nungaray.
The girl’s body was found Monday in a shallow creek after police said she sneaked out of her nearby home the night before. The medical examiner has determined that her cause of death was strangulation.
Police arrested Martinez and Ramos, who investigators said were roommates, on Thursday. Police said surveillance video showed two men approaching Jocelyn before walking to a Houston convenience store with her. The three then walked together to a bridge where Jocelyn was killed, police said.
Acting Houston Police Chief Larry Satterwhite said investigators had scoured “every potential video feed” to identify the suspects.
“They were talking to everyone possible that might have seen something or heard something. And their hard work paid off,” Satterwhite said at a news conference Thursday.
The two men are Venezuelan nationals who entered the United States illegally in March, according to a statement Friday from the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Martinez was arrested March 14 and Pena on March 28, both by U.S. Border Patrol near El Paso, Texas, about 670 miles (1078 kilometers) from Houston, the statement said. Both were then released with orders to appear in court at a later date. How they traveled to Houston has not been revealed.
According to court documents filed Friday, the suspects allegedly lured the girl under a bridge and remained with her there for more than two hours. They allegedly took off her pants, tied her up and killed her before throwing her body in the bayou, a Harris County prosecutor wrote in a court filing.
Police said the results of a sexual assault exam on the victim are pending.
It was not known if Jocelyn knew the men, police said. The girl’s mother, Alexis Nungaray, told KRIV-TV that she does not recognize them. Earlier this week, Houston Mayor John Whitmire said the girl had been talking on the phone with her teenage boyfriend after she had snuck out of her house, and he could hear men in the background.
“There’s a lot of crazy people out there, and just by looking at them, you never really could know,” Nungaray said. “My baby didn’t deserve this at all.”
Nungaray told KPRC-TV she wants to see justice for her daughter.
“I want karma to hit them. I’m angry. They took advantage of her. She’s so young,” Nungaray said. “They took away my first born.”
veryGood! (6)
Related
- Why members of two of EPA's influential science advisory committees were let go
- College Football Misery Index: Florida football program's problems go beyond Billy Napier
- New York Fashion Week 2024: A guide to the schedule, dates, more
- Klamath River flows free after the last dams come down, leaving land to tribes and salmon
- Trump's 'stop
- John Stamos got kicked out of Scientology for goofing around
- Sudden death of ‘Johnny Hockey’ means more hard times for beleaguered Columbus Blue Jackets
- These 10 old Ford Mustangs are hugely underappreciated
- Highlights from Trump’s interview with Time magazine
- Obi Ndefo, Dawson's Creek Actor, Dead at 51
Ranking
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- As millions leave organized religion, spiritual and secular communities offer refuge
- Four Downs and a Bracket: Clemson is not as far from College Football Playoff as you think
- 41,000 people were killed in US car crashes last year. What cities are the most dangerous?
- San Francisco names street for Associated Press photographer who captured the iconic Iwo Jima photo
- Murder on Music Row: Shots in the heart of country music disrupt the Nashville night
- Inside Zendaya and Tom Holland's Marvelous Love Story
- Man arrested after crashing into Abilene Christian football bus after Texas Tech game
Recommendation
Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
Woody Marks’ TD run with 8 seconds left gives No. 23 USC 27-20 win over No. 13 LSU
Is Usha Vance’s Hindu identity an asset or a liability to the Trump-Vance campaign?
Harris looks to Biden for a boost in Pennsylvania as the two are set to attend a Labor Day parade
Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
South Carolina women's basketball player Ashlyn Watkins charged with assault, kidnapping
Man arrested after crashing into Abilene Christian football bus after Texas Tech game
Christa McAuliffe, still pioneering, is first woman with a statue on New Hampshire capitol grounds