HOUSTON – Juan Carlos García Rodríguez, the young man who in the last hours was accused of raping and strangling the 11-year-old girl María González in the city of Pasadena on Saturday of last week, was arrested in the state of Louisiana.
According to the Pasadena Police Department, García Rodríguez was arrested in the city of Shreveport (Louisiana), after the Harris County prosecutor’s office accepted the charge of aggravated homicide against him.
Until Friday afternoon, García Rodríguez was considered a person of interest in the investigation, but later the authorities obtained the results of the forensic examinations of the evidence obtained at the crime scene and that compromised him.
“Our investigators obtained corroborating information, as well as evidence implicating García Rodríguez,” the Pasadena Police Department said in a statement issued this Saturday morning, August 19.
Now, the Pasadena authorities are waiting for the entire extradition process of García Rodríguez to be completed from the city of Shreveport to Harris County.
WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT GARCÍA RODRÍGUEZ
On Friday afternoon, some details about the now accused of aggravated homicide were known. For example, it was revealed that he entered the country illegally last January when he was held by Border Patrol officers (CBP for its acronym in English).
According to the authorities, Juan Carlos García Rodríguez entered the US through El Paso (Texas) and, after being released, headed for Baton Rouge (Louisiana) where the people who sponsored his arrival in the country were.
According to investigators, García Rodríguez arrived in Pasadena less than a month ago, where he supposedly came for work.
He was previously interviewed by authorities, but DNA evidence obtained from a key found inside the apartment that did not open any door in that room led investigators to decide to name him a person of interest.
The family has cried out for help to be able to take the girl back to Guatemala.
The key unlocked the door of an apartment inside the same housing complex where three people lived who had previously cooperated by providing DNA evidence to authorities.
Two of the three people had their own key to the house where he lived, except for García. Once they received the DNA results from the key, the authorities decided to look for him again.
The authorities awaited the results of the DNA tests of other pieces taken as evidence inside the apartment where the girl was at the time of the deadly attack to file charges against her and issue the arrest warrant that became effective this Saturday.
The police did not rule out the possibility that García Rodríguez had crossed the border back into Mexico.
Investigators said he has no criminal record in the US since he entered the country in January.
A $5,000 reward was being offered for information leading to the capture of García González.
