Johan Jose Rangel Martinez and Franklin Jose Penaramos charged with capital murder in the strangling death of 12 year old Houston girl, Jocelyn Nungaray after she was found dead at a creek, hours after running into the two men at a convenience store. The two men are now being investigated to see if they are illegal immigrants.
Texas authorities have charged two men captured on surveillance tape interacting with a 12 year old girl at a convenience store hours before she was found strangled at a Houston area creek.
Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, 21, and Franklin Jose Penaramos, 26, thought to be possibly in the United States illegally, were detained Thursday morning for questioning and later arrested on capital murder charges in connection to the sexual assault, and strangling of 12 year old girl, Jocelyn Nungaray.
Venezuelan migrant men who strangled and r*ped a 12 year old girl have been identified by Houston Police and charged with capital murder.
Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, 21, and Franklin Jose Pena Ramos, 26, dumped the body of 12 year old Jocelyn Nungaray in a shallow water creek… pic.twitter.com/USzrD2xgvM
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) June 20, 2024
The girl’s body was found in a shallow creek just on 6.15am, Monday morning, hours after the girl was seen being approached by the two suspects at a nearby 7-Eleven close to midnight.
‘It was a horrible scene,’ Acting Chief of Police Larry Satterwhite said during a news conference Thursday afternoon.
Police previously asked the public to help them track down the pair and thanked everyone for their input and support. Satterwhite said surveillance footage shared by the community helped police determine where Nungaray and her assailants were moments leading up to her death.
According to the girl’s mother, Jocelyn had ‘snuck out’ around 10pm Sunday evening and headed out to the convenience store. It was there that the girl would ‘run into’ the two men. Yet to be necessarily understood is what prompted the 12 year old girl to head out late Sunday night?
KRIV reported that Jocelyn had been talking to her boyfriend, 13, on the phone when he overheard her talking to two men at a convenience store.
Did the victim know the suspects prior or was the run in random?
Lt. Stephen Hope said investigators learned the suspects had dinner together the night of the murder, which was Sunday. After their meal, they left the restaurant and began walking in the area. Security video shows the suspects approach Nungaray, Hope said. He said they all later walk to a convenient store, then to a bridge before she was killed.
The investigation led officers and other investigative teams to an apartment complex on Northborough Drive, where the two suspects were detained and taken in for questioning on Thursday, according to Hope. As the suspects were being questioned, investigators at the scene claimed they recovered evidence that eventually led to their arrests.
Hope said the relationship between the suspects and victim is still under investigation. He added that the suspects were the same men pictured in the photos previously shared to the public via the department’s social media pages. Social media indicated the two men hailing from Venezuela.
Illegal migrants?
Authorities said an investigation by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences ruled the girl’s cause of death as strangulation.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire said the child’s family is devastated. He added her mother still hasn’t seen her child’s body ‘due to the investigation.’
‘If you just put yourself in their place, they don’t know which way to turn. They have very limited resources, but they’re strong, they’re brave,’ the mayor said.
Satterwhite said the department reached out to Homeland Security Investigations to determine whether the suspects are in the U.S. legally.
