Police in Houston, Texas, found the body of Jocelyn Nungaray, inset, early Monday morning. On Thursday, cops arrested two suspects. (Inset: GoFundMe; Screenshot: KHOU/YouTube)
Police in Texas on Thursday arrested two men who allegedly raped and choked a 12-year-old girl to death and dumped her body in a creek.
The investigation began around 6:15 a.m. Monday when cops discovered the body of Jocelyn Nungaray in a shallow creek near 400 West Rankin Road in north Houston. An autopsy determined she had been strangled. Houston Mayor John Whitmire told reporters earlier this week she had also been raped. The heinous crime set off a fervent search for the person or persons responsible.
Detectives learned through interviews and surveillance videos that Jocelyn had sneaked out of her apartment late Sunday night to go hang out with her 13-year-old boyfriend. The boyfriend told cops he and Jocelyn went to a restaurant where they met two men. Surveillance video captured the group walking to a convenience store. Police believe the men and Jocelyn went to a bridge on Rankin Road where they murdered her.
After releasing surveillance images to the public, investigators were able to identify the suspects as 26-year-old Franklin Jose Peña Ramos and 21-year-old Johan Jose Rangel Martinez. SWAT teams arrested the men at their apartment on Thursday morning, cops said.
“As the mayor, as a grandfather and a father, it doesn’t get any worse,” Whitmire told reporters at a Thursday press conference.
Detectives were still in the process of interviewing the suspects. A motive has not been released. Ramos and Martinez are facing capital murder charges.
Jocelyn’s family is understandably devastated.
“I’m angry that they took advantage of her,” her mother Alexis Nungaray told local CBS affiliate KHOU through tears. “She was so young. She was 12, you took my baby away, you took her away. Now, I get to let her little brother know his older sister is never coming home.”
Nungaray described her daughter as a “beautiful, beautiful young lady” with a bright future.
“I was really looking forward to seeing how she was gonna be and they took every opportunity away from me and my family,” she said.
A family friend started a fundraiser on GoFundMe to help pay for funeral costs and other expenses.
“Her family was not prepared for such a loss and needed help to give her daughter the memorial she deserves, to honor her memory, and to say our last goodbyes,” the fundraiser said.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
