Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the brutal killing and sexual assault of 12-year-old Texas girl, Jocelyn Nungaray.
On Friday, Harris County, Texas District Attorney Kim Ogg announced that she will be seeking the death penalty for Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel, 22, and Franklin Pena, 26. Both defendants are Venezuelan nationals, according to UpNorthLive.
“Jocelyn’s murder was as vile, brutal, and senseless as any case I have encountered during my tenure as district attorney,” Ogg said. “It is made worse by the knowledge that these two men were here illegally and that, had they been held after being captured at the border, they would never have had the opportunity to murder Jocelyn and destroy her family’s future.”
As previously reported by CrimeOnline, Nungaray is believed to have sneaked out of her apartment on the night of June 16. She was reportedly on the phone with her 13-year-old boyfriend when she was overheard talking to two men.
Surveillance video from a 7-Eleven convenience store showed the two men approaching the girl. Investigators stated that they used other videos to track the two men from earlier in the evening. They met Nungaray near Kuykendahl Road and walked with her to the convenience store.
From the store, they walked to a bridge on West Rankin Road, where they strangled the girl to death and left her body in the creek. It was later confirmed, on July 1, by the Houston Forensic Science Center that Nungaray had been sexually assaulted. The sexual assault is what allows Ogg to pursue the death penalty under Texas state law.
The men crossed the border illegally and, according to immigration officials, were released into the country by the U.S. Border Patrol a month before the tragedy.
Both men have a bond set at $10 million each and are being held at Harris County Jail, according to KHOU11.
[Feature Photo: Jocelyn Nungaray/Handout]
