Left inset: Elsa Mikeska (GoFundMe). Right inset: Ricardo Rivas (Harris County Sheriff via Houston Police Dept.). Background: The parking lot where Mikeska was killed (KHOU).
A Texas man who was 16 when he fatally shot a 62-year-old grandmother walking from a parking lot to her gym will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Ricardo Rivas, 20, learned his fate on Friday in the killing of Elsa Mikeska, 62. He pleaded guilty to murder, avoiding the death penalty and making him eligible for parole after 30 years.
Rivas killed Mikeska at about 4:50 a.m. on June 17, 2021, outside her gym in the 10500 block of Fuqua Street, officials said.
The events leading to the predawn killing began when Mikeska parked her vehicle. Rivas and four other teens in an SUV pulled up near her, and two passengers exited. As Mikeska walked toward the gym entrance, the assailants called out to her. Mikeska ran toward the gym.
A bullet was fired. Mikeska was struck. She collapsed and died near the gym entrance. The assailants got back into their SUV and fled. The Houston Police Department released surveillance video of the shooting with the hope of capturing the culprits.
Rivas was arrested days later after apparently bragging to a girl on Instagram about his crimes. Among the information he posted was a picture of his Greyhound bus ticket to Dallas and, ultimately, Mexico, in order to “stay low,” local CBS affiliate KHOU reported. Cops spotted him at the local bus station and arrested him before he could get out of Houston.
Investigators learned that about an hour before Mikeska was killed, Rivas and the other teens tried to steal a woman’s vehicle but were unsuccessful because it was inoperable.
Three of the four teens with Rivas that morning were arrested and have been sentenced in Mikeska’s murder. The fourth teen was killed in a drive-by shooting last year, KHOU reported.
About a year after Mikeska was murdered, her husband died. Family members told KHOU they believe he couldn’t bear the loss.
Mourners remembered Mikeska as a mother, wife, sister, daughter, grandmother, aunt and dear friend.
“We are all heartbroken for the loss of our dear Elsa,” her GoFundMe page said.
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