Two men have been charged with capital murder in the death of a 12-year-old girl found in a shallow creek in north Houston.
Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel, 22, and Franklin Pena, 26, were charged with the murder of Jocelyn Nungaray, according to authorities.
Jocelyn’s body was discovered around 6:15 a.m. on Monday. The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences confirmed she died by strangulation, Houston police reported.
Officials said they worked tirelessly to find those responsible for Jocelyn’s death. Surveillance footage and witness accounts led to the arrests on Thursday.
“The teams reviewed every video feed and spoke to anyone who might have seen or heard something,” said Houston’s Acting Police Chief Larry Satterwhite. “Their hard work led us to the suspects and the location where Jocelyn was killed and left in a bayou.”
Tests are being conducted to see if Jocelyn was sexually assaulted, Satterwhite added.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire expressed his horror at the case. “As the mayor, a grandfather, and a father, it doesn’t get any worse,” he said.
Houston police Lt. Stephen Hope said the suspects and Jocelyn were seen together on surveillance cameras Sunday night. The three were filmed walking to a convenience store, and then to a bridge where Jocelyn was killed, Hope said.
Martinez-Rangel and Pena were being held in Harris County Jail as of Friday. They were set to appear in court for a probable cause hearing where prosecutors would request a $1 million bond for each suspect.
It was unclear if Martinez-Rangel and Pena had lawyers.
The suspects weren’t eligible for the death penalty yet, but that could change as the case progresses, according to John Donnelly, a spokesperson for the county’s district attorney’s office.
Both suspects had immigration violation holds from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Authorities at the news conference on Thursday advised contacting Homeland Security Investigations for information on the suspects’ immigration statuses. No one from the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or ICE was available for comment on Friday.
Jocelyn’s mother, Alexis Nungaray, told NBC affiliate KPRC in Houston that she had never seen the two men before and didn’t know if her daughter knew them. She said they did not live at their apartment complex.