Houston police have arrested two Venezuelan migrants for the murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who was lured away from his home, then strangled and thrown into a bayou.
One of the suspects crossed the border illegally less than a month before the shocking murder and was released in the United States after saying he feared for his life if returned to his home country, officials said. sources told the Post.
Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, 21, and Franklin Jose Pena Ramos, 26, were charged Thursday with capital murder.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sources said Pena Ramos entered El Paso, Texas, on May 28. He was released shortly after his interaction with border agents.
He told authorities he planned to live with his cousin in Houston until his court appearance in July, sources said.
Agents placed a GPS tracker on Pena Ramos, who was only supposed to monitor his location for 21 days, sources said.
It’s clear whether he was wearing the tracker when Jocelyn was murdered.
The second suspect, Rangel Martinez, crossed the border in El Pas on March 14 and was released before going to trial in August, sources said.
It also had a GPS monitor, but that was removed from the program in May, sources said.
Investigators identified the suspects from surveillance footage, after they were seen following Jocelyn as she entered a local convenience store.
His body was found Monday in a swampy river by a Houston resident who was passing by. She told KTRK-TV that she initially thought the girl was a floating mannequin.
“I turned around, stopped on the bridge, turned on my indicators, looked down and realized it was someone. I parked here and immediately called 911,” she said.
The two migrants were arrested at a local apartment complex, where they lived as roommates, police said.
Homeland Security has opened an investigation into the suspects’ immigration backgrounds.
The victim’s mother, Alexis Nungaray, said her daughter sneaked out of their apartment Sunday night.
She told local newspaper KHOU that she had been “exploited” by her killers.
“I’m angry because they took advantage of her. She was so young. She was 12, you took my baby, you took her. Now I can let his little brother know that his older sister will never come home,” she said.
“She has grown into a very beautiful young woman,” Alexis said. “I was really looking forward to seeing how she would perform and they took every opportunity given to me and my family.”
Houston Mayor John Whitmire said Thursday that Jocelyn’s killing affected him personally.
“As a grandfather and father, the situation couldn’t be worse,” Whitmire said.
“If there’s any circumstance in which you deny bail, this is it.”
Houston authorities are still investigating whether Nungaray’s killers sexually assaulted her.
Nungaray’s story follows a series of high-profile crimes linked to migrants entering the country illegally, including the rape of a 13-year-old girl in a Bronx park last week.
The suspect in that case, a migrant from Ecuador, crossed the border into Eagle Pass, Texas, in 2021 and was deported by an immigration judge the following year, the Post recently revealed.
However, he was never expelled.
The man recently charged with the rape and murder of Maryland mother of 5 Rachel Morin is an alleged Salvadoran gang member who entered the United States three times in two months and was deported – apparently before to enter undetected on his fourth attempt.