(AP) — Prosecutors filed felony charges Friday against two men suspected of killing a 12-year-old Houston girl whose body was found in a creek after she disappeared on her way to a supermarket.
Charging documents filed in Harris County, Texas, court do not list attorneys who could speak on behalf of Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, 21, and Franklin Jose Pena Ramos, 26, both of whom are in prison for the death of Jocelyn Nungaray.
The girl’s body was found in a shallow creek on Monday after she sneaked out of her nearby home the night before, according to police. The medical examiner has determined her cause of death was strangulation.
Police arrested Martinez and Ramos, who investigators say were roommates, on Thursday. Surveillance video shows two men approaching Jocelyn and walking with her to a Houston grocery store. The three then walked together to a bridge where Jocelyn was killed, police said.
Acting Houston Police Chief Larry Satterwhite said investigators had searched “every possible video feed” to identify the suspects.
“They talked to everyone who might have seen or heard something. And their hard work paid off,” Satterwhite said at a press conference on Thursday.
The two men are Venezuelan citizens who entered the United States illegally in March, according to a statement from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Service on Friday.
Martinez was arrested on March 14 and Pena on March 28 by U.S. Border Patrol near El Paso, Texas, about 660 miles (1,078 kilometers) from Houston, the statement said. Both were then released with orders to appear in court at a later date. How they traveled to Houston was not disclosed.
According to court documents, the suspects lured the girl under a bridge and stayed with her for more than two hours. They removed her pants, tied her up and killed her before dumping her body in the bayou, a Harris County prosecutor wrote in a court document.
Police said the results of the victim’s sexual assault investigation are still pending.
It is not known if Jocelyn knew the men, police said. The girl’s mother, Alexis Nungaray, told KRIV-TV that she did not recognize her. Earlier this week, Houston Mayor John Whitmire said the girl was on the phone with her teenage boyfriend after sneaking out of her house and he could hear men in the background.
“There are a lot of crazy people out there and just by looking at them you never really know,” Nungaray said. “My baby doesn’t deserve this at all.”
Nungaray told KPRC-TV she wants justice for her daughter.
“I want karma to hit her. I’m angry. They took advantage of her. She is so young,” Nungaray said. “They took my firstborn away from me.”
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