After a Houston girl killed by suspected illegal immigrants fought back, her family yells at the accused, calling them murderers
Prosecutors said on Tuesday that 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray of Houston, who was discovered strangled to death last week, resisted her attackers, two illegal immigrants who had taken her beneath a bridge and sexually molested her.
According to Fox Houston, the suspected killers, Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, 21, and Franklin Jose Pena Ramos, 26, met while traveling from Venezuela to the United States and later got in touch in Houston.
Martinez, a father of two young children, ages two and five, who do not reside in Texas, was given a $10 million bail amount after prosecutors determined that he posed a flight risk. According to the authorities, Nungaray’s marks from the incident on June 16 were still visible on him. Prosecutors added that Nungaray had scrapes on her backside consistent with being dragged, marks on her neck, her wrists and feet bound, and she was nude from the waist down.
According to Harris County prosecutor Megan Long, Ramos said authorities he tried to get Martinez to stop, but he allegedly refused and got on top of the girl and strangled her. Martinez, according to him, choked her and advised submerging her in water to destroy any traces of her DNA.
“Losing a 12-year-old child is particularly traumatic because they had their entire life ahead of them. Thus, this will be a sensitive case for the family and for us as prosecutors, Long added.
Martinez is reported to have informed officials that he gave Pena the order to toss Jocelyn into the bayou while tying her legs together. Authorities claim Martinez trimmed his beard to evade discovery and had bite marks and scrapes on his arm.
Prosecutors claimed that after the murder, Ramos texted his supervisor at a construction company, claiming that the two had been out partying the night before, that someone had died, and that they needed money to get out of town.
A month before to the murder, Ramos had entered the country illegally. On Monday, he appeared in court and was likewise granted a $10 million bail. Capital murder is the charge against both men.
Judge Josh Hill of Harris County District Court stated that he set a high bond amount to prevent both Ramos and Martinez from being deported as well as from running away.
“I have witnessed people being placed under ICE custody and going through the deportation or removal procedure after receiving an order to leave the country. and that those people, whose criminal charges from Harris County are still ongoing, have been deported or removed by the federal government,” added Hill. “And it puts us in the position where those charges would never be answered.”
The murder, which startled the people in and around Houston, was one of several crimes this month involving illegal aliens.
Judge Lina Hildago of Harris County, who frequently weighs in on regional and national politics, stated that “evil happens regardless of immigration status” before accusing Republicans of creating the circumstances that resulted in Nungaray’s murder.