A 26 year old man convicted of brutally stabbing his sister-in-law in her Oak Cliff home last year will spend the rest of his life in jail. A Dallas jury found Edgar Murga guilty of capital murder in the death of Alma Arenas-Perez. The Judge sentenced Murga to life in prison without parole. Authorities say he stabbed Perez more than 40 times and then slashed the throat of her young daughter. The girl, now 8, survived the attack and testified against her Uncle at the trial.
STEPHENVILLE (CBSDFW.COM) – The Stephenville woman who was paralyzed during a random stabbing at a city park in March looked her attacker in the eye in an Erath County court Tuesday.
On March 14, Brandi Todd, 28, was sitting in the Stephenville Park watching her children play when prosecutors say Michael Howard, 42, approached her and plunged a knife in her back. The attack left her paralyzed.
She fielded questions from the District Attorney for 14 minutes Tuesday before pointing at her alleged attacker.
“It felt like someone had taken a bat and cracked me over the back with it,” Todd told the jurors.
Howard, the defense told jurors, was schizophrenic and taking anti-psychotic, anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication. They said he was seeing and hearing things, and that he was frustrated with the local Mental Health and Mental Retardation facility.
The police investigator said Howard told him he walked around the perimeter of the Stephenville Park, and claimed to have encountered a few college-aged men who taunted him. He told investigators that this annoyed him, and that he had a knife and felt like stabbing someone.
Todd said she saw Howard walking away from her after she was stabbed in the middle of her back.
“That’s when I reached back and looked at my hands, and I looked to the side and I was pointing, and I was trying to say, ‘he did this! He did this,’” Todd said Tuesday.
A psychiatrist testifying for the defense said that not all people with mental illnesses like Howard’s stab young mothers in the back at city parks.
On Wednesday, prosecutors will bring in their own psychiatrists. After closing arguments, the jury is expected to begin deliberating Howard’s fate.
STEPHENVILLE (CBSDFW.COM) – An Erath County jury took 20 minutes Wednesday to sentence Michael A. Howard, 43, to 20 years in prison for stabbing and paralyzing a Stephenville mother in a city park nearly seven months ago.
On March 14, Brandi Todd, 28, was watching her children play in Stephenville Park when Howard approached her and plunged a knife in her back. During the first day of the trial Tuesday, Todd looked her attacker in the eye, and retold her story. The attack left her paralyzed.
“I don’t think forever is too much,” Todd said. “I mean, why don’t we let him out when I can walk?”
Howard pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, which meant he didn’t understand right from wrong because of his mental illness. At the time of the attack, the defense told the jury that Howard was taking anti-psychotic, anti-depressants, and anti-anxiety medication.
“I know he has forgiveness from God if he asks for it,” said Denise DeForest, Todd’s mother. “But I want him to learn, when he does this, he hurts good people from society.”
Along with the maximum 20-year sentence, jurors imposed the maximum $10,000 fine without probation.
AUSTIN (CBSDFW.com) – A man shot and killed by police after stabbing an officer in the neck was identified Friday as a former suspect in the 1991 slaying of four teens at a yogurt shop, one of the most infamous Austin homicide cases in recent memory.
Maurice Pierce was fatally shot Thursday night during a struggle with an officer after a routine traffic stop, said Dennis Ferris, a senior police officer.
Pierce was a teen in 1991, when Amy Ayers, 13, Eliza Thomas, 17, and sisters Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, ages 17 and 15, were bound, gagged and shot in the head at an “I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt” store where two of the girls worked. The building was set on fire, and firefighters poured thousands of gallons of water on it before anyone realized there were bodies inside.
Pierce was one of four people arrested and charged with murder in 1999, but his case never went to trial and the charges against him were dismissed four years later due to lack of evidence.
An Austin police officer pulled Pierce over about 11 p.m. Thursday after he ran a stop sign, Ferris said. After stopping, Pierce fled on foot through a north Austin neighborhood. Officer Frank Wilson caught him, and the two struggled.
Pierce grabbed Wilson’s knife from his belt and stabbed him in the neck, Ferris said. Wilson then fired one round, killing Pierce, he said.
Wilson, who has been on the Austin Police force for about six years, was in stable condition at an Austin hospital Friday, Ferris said. Details of the stabbing were first reported by the Austin American Statesman.
Two men, Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott, were eventually convicted in the yogurt shop slayings. A fourth suspect, Forrest Welborn, had the case against him dismissed.
The convictions of Springsteen and Scott were overturned in 2007, however, when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said they were unfairly denied the chance to cross-examine each other. Springsteen and Scott had implicated each other in statements to investigators.
A judge dismissed charges against Springsteen and Scott, who had been awaiting retrial, last year because prosecutors said they weren’t prepared to go to trial then.
IRVING (KRLD) - An Irving man has been charged with capital murder after walking into the Irving Police Department and telling officers he “killed some people.”
Irving Police spokesman John Argumaniz said detectives went to 38-year-old Tyrone Cade’s home and found his girlfriend, 37-year-old Mischell Fuller, and her 18-year-old daughter Desiree Hoskins stabbed to death.
Police said Cade and Fuller were dating and began arguing about their relationship, when Cade stabbed both her and her daughter.
Several hours later, he came to the police department to confess. Cade is being held on one count of capital murder with no bond.
KELLER (CBSDFW.COM) – A 19-year-old man was arrested Saturday for stabbing another 19-year-old to death when he refused to pay for marijuana, police said.
A witness called police at about 10:30 p.m. Friday and reported a fight between three individuals in the 1800 block of Green Trail. When the witness shouted that she was calling police, two of the individuals fled the scene while another slumped onto the ground next to a silver Saturn.
Paramedics arrived shortly thereafter and the victim, Watauga resident Christopher Glover, died from an apparent stab wound in the chest.
Police secured a search warrant and arrested Keller resident Maxwell Fotey, 19, at his home and charged him with murder at about 6:30 a.m. Saturday. Investigators are searching for a third person who may have been involved with the stabbing.
Fotey is being held on a $100,000 bond.
DESOTO (CBSDFW.COM/AP) – Police have arrested a 19-year-old Dallas-area man in connection with the slaying of another teen whose body was found in a residential alley the day before.
DeSoto police say Kay Ira Watts is being held in the city jail on a capital murder charge. Bond for Watts is set at more than $1 million.
It was not immediately known whether Watts had an attorney.
Capt. Ron Smith says detectives recovered evidence that tied him to the death of JaCorey Lavell Wilkerson of DeSoto. The 17-year-old was stabbed 11 times.
Police and family members say the teens knew each other but it isn’t clear how close they were.
Investigators say the evening before the murder Wilkerson had nearly $100. It’s believed during the course of the murder Watts robbed Wilkerson and stole that money. The police theory is backed by the fact that detectives found nearly $100 in Watts bedroom and it had blood on it. That evidence will be tested to determine if it’s the victims blood.
Watts also reportedly admitted to attacking Wilkerson and told police he left the murder weapon at the scene. Officers recovered the knife believed to have been used in the attack in the alley.
The Texas Rangers assisted in the investigation.
(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Dallas police say don’t know why someone killed 50-year-old Shearl Bennett as she was coming home from church Wednesday night off Royal Lane.
The police department is hoping a $5,000 reward offered by Crimestoppers will help lead them to her killer.
A reward is also being offered to help find the person who killed a Dallas man last week. Police say Martin Coronado was walking near an apartment complex on West Mockingbird Lane early in the morning when someone stabbed him.
Even though the victims didn’t know each other and the crimes happened 11 miles apart, police are looking for a link, but say they don’t know if these cases are related.
Police do have a vague description of a car involved. They say its a dark colored Honda.
Detectives also hope autopsies will give them a clearer picture of the type of knife used.
Tony Jesse Burrell, 38, is accused of fatally stabbing his estranged wife and injuring her daughter. (credit: Lewisville Police Dept.)
LEWISVILLE (CBSDFW.COM)- Police in Lewisville have arrested a 38-year-old man who they say fatally stabbed his estranged wife.
Tony Jesse Burrell is charged with Capital Murder.
Police say Burrell’s estranged wife, Charlice Manning, and her children were staying with her parents on September 25. Early that morning Burrell allegedly broke into the house, in the 100 block of Eastwood Place, found Manning in a bedroom and stabbed her several times.
According to investigators, Manning’s young daughter tried to stop the attack and was also stabbed by Burrell. The suspect has also been charged with Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon related to the child.
Police arrived at the home within two minutes of receiving a 911 call and said they found Burrell still inside, waving a knife. Officers were able to take the man into custody. Manning, 40, was found dead in the bedroom.
Manning’s daughter was treated for her injuries and released from a local hospital.
Burrell, who also had an outstanding warrant for violating probation on a family violence charge in Dallas County, is being held on $2,000,000 bond at the Denton County Jail.
LUBBOCK (AP) – The husband of Texas death row inmate Darlie Routier has divorced the former homemaker who was condemned after her young sons were fatally stabbed in their Rowlett home.
Darin Routier said after filing for divorce in June that he still believed the woman was innocent. The divorce was finalized Friday in Lubbock County, where Darin Routier lives with the pair’s youngest son.
Darlie Routier was convicted in 1997 of killing 5-year-old Damon a year earlier. The 40-year-old also was charged with killing Damon’s 6-year-old brother, Devon, but was not tried for the death.
The woman contends an unidentified intruder killed the boys and stabbed her in their home. One of 10 women awaiting lethal injection in Texas, Darlie Routier is housed in Gatesville, between Dallas and Austin.
(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Updated: October 31, 2011 9:35 PM
CARROLLTON (CBSDFW.COM) – The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled the death of a 10-year-old Oklahoma City girl a homicide.
Jasmen Gonzalez had been visiting relatives at a Carrollton apartment in the 1300 block of Walnut Street when she disappeared Saturday night. Her body was found Sunday afternoon, less than a third of a mile away from the apartment complex.
On Monday, officials confirmed that Jasmen died from a stab wound to the chest. The medical examiner did not have information as to whether or not she had been sexually assaulted.
Investigators learned there had been a family gathering on Saturday evening, and that Jasmen had gone missing just before midnight.
Police in Carrollton have confirmed that 23-year old Jose Sifuentes is a “person of interest” in the case. “The person of interest is a family friend,” explained Carrollton Police Department spokesperson Lieutenant Doug Mitchell.
Authorities said that Sifuentes and several other people from the party were questioned.
Police in Carrollton say that Jose Sifuentes is a "person of interest" in the stabbing death of a 10-year-old girl. (credit: Carrollton Police Department)
“I don’t know if he [Sifuentes] had any actual interaction with her [Jasmen]. I know that he was at the family gathering and they were all there,” said Lt. Mitchell. “We did 12 interviews of people that were at this gathering and he just… I can’t give you all the details.”
A search warrant says that Gonzalez was found in a manner consistent with sexual assault — though the Medical Examiner has not confirmed it.
Police have also executed search warrants for two Carrollton homes and three vehicles believed to have ties in the abduction.
According to the warrant, while police were questioning Sifuentes, a canine unit detected an odor of decaying human tissue around his SUV. Inside, the warrant says, they found a knife, rubber gloves and human blood.
Police do not believe that this was a random act, but say that Sifuentes is still only a “person of interest” in Gonzalez’ death. “We’re not sure that Jose is the guy that did it yet. To be fair to everybody involved, we don’t need to be pointing a finger at any one person,” Lt. Doug Mitchell with the Carrollton Police Department told reporters.
As a part of the investigation, police questioned all of the 82 registered sex offenders in Carrollton, and believe none of them are involved.
Police have continued to question Sifuentes. While he has not been charged or arrested, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have kept him detained.
CARROLLTON (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - The man who police had previously called a “person of interest” been arrested and charged with killing a 10-year-old Oklahoma City girl and dumping her body behind a home this weekend.
Jose Sifuentes is accused of stabbing and killing 10-year-old Jasmen Gonzalez. Since Sifuentes was in the country illegally, officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had been detaining him as authorities conducted an investigation into the girl’s death.
Jasmen had come with her family from Oklahoma City and was visiting relatives at a Carrollton apartment complex, located in the 1300 block of Walnut Street. Investigators said Jasmen had been at a family gathering on Saturday evening, and that she had gone missing just before midnight.
At a Tuesday morning press conference Carrollton Police Department Lieutenant Doug Mitchell said, “Based on the interviews of the people that were in that apartment and the physical evidence that we have gathered it led to this individual [Sifuentes] as the suspect. And we believe that we’ve established probable cause. A judge in Dallas County believes that we have probable cause, so we asked for an arrest warrant and were granted one.”
Lt. Mitchell also said that to his knowledge Sifuentes, whose common-law-wife is Jasmen’s cousin, had not confessed to the murder but had been “evasive” with authorities.
When asked why the 23-year-old suspect had not been charged with capital murder Lt. Mitchell said, “The charge that he is charged with is the best charge for the evidence that we currently have.”
Among other things, charging Sifuentes with capital murder would have required proof of premeditation and made the death penalty an eligible punishment for the crime.
The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office on Monday confirmed that the girl died from a stab wound to the chest, and ruled the death a homicide. Concerning whether or not the girl had been sexually assaulted Lt. Mitchell said, “A lot of evidence still has to be analyzed and to my knowledge that determination has not been made.”
According to police documents, Jasmen was found in a manner consistent with sexual assault.
♦♦♦ Click below to view raw video of Sifuentes being transported to the Dallas County Jail ♦♦♦
Sifuentes allegedly had gone to the family gathering in Carrollton, as a guest of anther Gonzalez relative, and met Jasmen there.
Police now say after the family function, Sifuentes took Jasmen from the bedroom where she was sleeping and left through the rooms’ back door.
Her body was not found until Sunday afternoon, less than a third of a mile away from the apartment.
VIDEO: Oklahoma Teacher Reacts To Jasmen Gonzalez’s Death
Sifuentes was among several people at the family party who were questioned. “We did 12 interviews of people that were at this gathering and he just,” stated Mitchell. “I can’t give you all the details.”
Mitchell said that he did not have any attorney information for Sifuentes.
According to the warrant, a canine unit detected the odor of decaying human tissue near an SUV driven by Sifuentes. “I know that there was a weapon found in the SUV,” said Mitchell. “There’s things in there that we believe to be blood.”
Police have also executed searches at two Carrollton homes and three vehicles all believed to have ties in the girl’s abduction.
Lieutenant Mitchell said the murder of Jasmen Gonzalez was truly shocking. “I think that anytime a 10-year-old child is murdered it’s heinous. I don’t know anyway to describe it. I know that it has affected our community. I know that that neighborhood has been shaken.”
In addition to family members and party attendees, police initially questioned all of the 82 registered sex offenders living in Carrollton, but do not believe that any of them were involved in this case. “There’s nothing to indicate at this time… other than this individual acted alone,” said Mitchell. “We’re doing everything we can to reassure our citizens that they are safe, that this was not just some random act, that there is no predator out preying on children.”
As for the prosecution of Jose Sifuentes for murder, Lt. Mitchell said he feels good about the case and, “We still have a lot of work to do with this. It’s gonna take several days, weeks to put all this together and present to the Dallas County District Attorney.”
Sifuentes does have a criminal history but all of the offenses were non-violent. According to Lt. Mitchell, Sifuentes had also previously been deported from the United States.
(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
SANSOM PARK (CBSDFW.COM) – Police arrested a man who stabbed another man during a fight Friday night without incident.
According to a media release, a 911 call alerted officers to a fight in progress in the 5200 block of Landino. During the call, the witness said someone had been stabbed.
When police arrived, they found an adult victim bleeding from a stab wound, along with a bloody knife lying near him, police said.
David Smith O’Neal was arrested on scene and charged with the crime. He remains in the Tarrant County Jail Saturday afternoon.
The victim, who has not been identified, is stable at an area hospital.
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Police in Garland say what began as a wild night of partying quickly got out of control and now two teenage girls are being charged with Capital Murder.
The first inkling something was wrong came Tuesday when officers made a discovery.
“Coincidentally early yesterday morning, about seven o’clock, we got a call in south Garland of a Nissan van on fire,” recalled Garland Police Department spokesman Joe Harn.
Harn said it was later that morning when 17-year-old Tatina Daniels and Teresa Price, 18, showed up at the Dallas Police Department, and told them of a murder. The man killed was Jesse Morales.
“Ends up that that van was the one that belonged to Mr. Morales,” Harn said.
The teens, both from Dallas, told police they had met Morales to party.
Harn said, “They had agreed to go to a motel; there they were doing drugs, alcohol and sex. At some point, this party got of hand and ended up resulting in the death of Mr. Morales.”
Police later found Morales, 40, stabbed to death in a room at the Kingsley Inn and Suites, located in 3500 block of Kingsley Road.
Both Daniels and Price face the more serious charge of Capital Murder, because they took money and belongings from Morales, along with his 1996 van.
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Story updated 10:32 p.m.
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Three people were stabbed to death at a home in Dallas early Thursday morning. The incident happened about 6:30 a.m. in the 2100 block of Peavy Road, in the far east part of the city.
Police and three ambulances responded to reports of the crime, but there were no victims transported to the hospital.
Murder suspect William Palmer was arrested in Sachse, located about 20 miles northeast of Dallas. Cpl. Melinda Gutierrez with the Dallas Police Department said the victims were Palmer’s wife and in-laws, 48-year-old Donya Palmer, 67-year-old Mary Jane Davis, and 69-year-old Raymond Leon Davis.
William Palmer (credit: Dallas County Sheriff's Department)
“Homicides detectives along with the medical examiner’s office [and] our crime scene response team, are there processing the scene, gathering everything from blood evidence to fingerprints,” explained Dallas Police Department Spokesman Joe Garza.
It’s believed William and Donya Palmer were recently separated and that Donya Palmer had temporarily moved back in with her parents.
“At this time, it’s too early in the investigation to know exactly what the motive is,” Garza said.
Donya Palmer was a 1982 graduate of Lake Centennial High School in Garland and worked as a Business Systems Analyst at American Gypsum in Dallas.
The crime scene is directly across the street from Bryan Adams High School. Students and parents arriving there on Thursday morning slowed down to gaze at the police presence.
Authorities were alerted to the situation through a 911 call made by Kelley Dennehy, the Davis’ other daughter. She and her 6-year-old daughter hid in a closet during the attack.
Family member Jennifer Davis says Raymond pushed Dennehy to safety. “Her dad pushed her out of the way to save her, and she ran up and hid in the closet with her daughter and waited until he left to call 911.”
William Palmer was captured near a Taco Bueno restaurant in Sachse. An employee at the fast food store told CBS 11 News that several police officers also surrounded a van near the store.
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Teddy bears, flowers, and personal messages line the fence outside the East Dallas home where Raymond and Mary Davis lived.
Online, friends have posted messages remembering their daughter, Donya Palmer, a mother of three and popular online gamer.
All three died Thursday morning – each of them stabbed multiple times.
Police have arrested Palmer’s husband, William Palmer, for capital murder, but they are still working to answer how and why he may have killed his wife and in-laws.
Investigators say William and Donya Palmer, who lived in Sachse, were suffering financially.
Neighbors say their water had repeatedly been turned off, and the couple couldn’t afford to purchase the home they were renting.
After 21 years together, police say, their marriage fell apart, and the couple separated last week.
Palmer moved to her parents home, where she woke up Thursday morning and walked out to her car.
Investigators aren’t sure how long William Palmer had been standing outside that house on Peavy Street, waiting for his wife or possibly planning what he was about to do.
Police say he confronted his wife, chased her inside the house, and stabbed her As her father and mother each walked into the room, police say, he stabbed them too.
A sister who witnessed the slaying, Kelly Dennehy, escaped with a cut to her arm. Officers say she ran upstairs, grabbed her sleeping 6 year old daughter, and hid in an upstairs closet where Palmer couldn’t find them.
Police returned the scene today, looking for any evidence they may have missed. Investigators have taken various knives into evidence, but have yet to identify the murder weapon.
Police also say there’s no previous record of violence between the suspect and his wife. Sachse police records, however, show his 20-year-old daughter, Brianna Palmer, had once complained he had ‘choked her and pushed her down the stairs’ while trying to kick her out of the house.
Police say they could never reach the daughter to follow-up and charges were never filed. A Walgreens in Sachse, where the couple’s middle child, 18-year-old Danielle, works, has posted signs, requesting donations for three surviving children.
Neighbors in East Dallas also say a local Albertson’s is donating flowers for the growing memorial.
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - It was relentless and brutal, and it was all captured on cell-phone video.
Derek Madrigal of Dallas is recovering in a hospital in Harlingen after he was stabbed nine times and beaten with coolers. The 21-year-old student at Brookhaven College was on spring break in South Padre Island when he was attacked by a vicious mob.
Madrigal’s friend, Gaby, witnessed the bloody beating. “I guess one of them on their way to hit Derek hit me in the face,” explained Gaby. ”The next thing I see is his [Madrigal's] feet over my head and they’re crowd surfing him into the middle of the crowd,” added the 20-year-old.
Gaby, who does not want her last name to appear in this article, says the beating was hard to watch. “A woman’s scream is the worst and when you hear about 50 of them at once, you just know something bad is happening. You could hear people yelling, he’s done for, he’s done for,” she recalled.
Brookhaven College Student, Derek "DJ" Madrigal
Gaby says at least eight men stabbed and beat Madrigal. So far, police have arrested only one person. 33-year-old Michael Rangel is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Derek’s older brother, Richard Madrigal says his parents have yet to see the cell-phone video of the beating. “I have a lot of anger and a lot of disbelief that people would just keep beating someone to the point that they’re unconscious, said Richard.
Meanwhile a Facebook page called “Justice For Derek Madrigal” has been set up in hopes that the remaining attackers will be arrested.
Friends and family say Madrigal or “DJ” as he likes to be called is making progress. DJ ate his first meal since the attack and doctors plan to move him out of ICU by Friday.
FERRIS (CBSDFW.COM) – The joy of a weekend birthday party in Ellis County is shattered after a deadly brawl.
Relatives had gathered at a home in Ferris for a girl’s quinceañera, to celebrate the teens fifteenth birthday. According to police, just as the celebration was winding down Saturday night, a fight broke out.
“Two individuals had gotten into an argument over some alcohol — there were two handguns involved in the thing,” explained Lieutenant Rick White, with the Ellis County Sheriff’s Department.
Before the fight ended four people had been shot, two stabbed, and two others badly beaten. One of the shooting victims later died.
White said an 11-year-old child was among those hurt. Many of the surviving victims haven’t been questioned because of the severity of their injuries. None of the medical conditions of those hurt are known.
Police continue to investigate the incident. So far, no arrests have been made.
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NORTH DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - It was all hugs and well-wishes Thursday for Derek “DJ” Madrigal of North Dallas. His warm homecoming was a far cry from the brutal beating he received less than two weeks ago. “I don’t look bad now, but I was bad,” recalled Madrigal. ”I’m strong and I’ll make it,” he added.
The 21-year-old Brookhaven College student told reporters he didn’t want to dwell on his nine stab wounds and punctured lung suffered at the hands of a vicious mob. “I just don’t want it to happen again,” explained Madrigal. People need to learn what is right.”
Derek "DJ" Madrigal
Madrigal was enjoying spring break when he came to the rescue of a girl who was being harassed by a group of men on a South Padre Island beach. DJ was suddenly pulled into the mob, stabbed and beaten with coolers. The beating was all captured on video.
He was finally pulled to safety by a Good Samaritan. “I remember him carrying me,” recalled Madrigal. “Some girl asked him, do you even know this guy? The guy said, no, but he needs help.”
Madrigal spent five days in intensive care with his mother and father by his side. “It’s given us a stronger bond. There’s no question, it shook us to the core,” said Frank Madrigal, DJ’s father. “We’ve come up from it holding hands and holding hearts,” Frank added.
DJ says he’s thrilled to be back in Dallas and eager to move on with his life, now that it has new meaning. “I’m going to live my life even better now, he said. You got to cherish life. Life could be gone any minute.”
South Padre Island police arrested Michael Rangel of San Antonio. The 33-year-old is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Police are still looking for several other suspects.
(Copyright 2012 KTVT, CBSDFW.COM, CBS Local. All Rights Reserved.)
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Felix Velasquez Jr. arrest photo left; most wanted photo right. (credit: Texas Dept. of Public Safety)
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Law enforcement officials have captured one of Texas’ Most Wanted — a man wanted for his involvement in the South Padre Island beating of North Texas college student Derek “D.J.” Madrigal.
Felix Velasquez Jr., 30, was arrested in south San Antonio.
Velasquez is one of several members of the San Antonio-based Texas Mexican Mafia prison gang, accused of beating and stabbing Madrigal on March 17. According to police, the young man was attacked while trying to protect his girlfriend from men who were harassing her.
Madrigal suffered nine stab wounds, a punctured lung and deep bruising all over his body. The 21-year-old spent nearly two weeks in the hospital, five of those in intensive care, and underwent two surgical procedures.
Madrigal had to withdraw from Brookhaven College to focus on his recovery.
Search warrants executed after Velasquez’ arrest also led to the seizure of six handguns (one stolen), one assault rifle, body armor, along with amounts of heroin, cocaine and marijuana.
Velasquez was wanted for Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon and Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity, but will now face additional charges related to the discovered weapons and drugs.
Another man, 33-year-old Michael Rangel from San Antonio, was arrested weeks ago and charged with Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon for his role in the attack. Ten other members of the Texas Mexican Mafia have also been charged in the attack and two other gang members were arrested in connection with Velasquez’s capture.
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