Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel and Franklin Pena are two accused killers who have been charged with the murder of twelve year old Jocelyn Nungaray’
According to police reports Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel and Franklin Pena would lure the twelve year old girl underneath a bridge where she was stripped, tied up and strangled before they would throw Jocelyn Nungaray into a creek where her body was ultimately discovered
Officers using surveillance cameras were able to identify the suspects, Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel and Franklin Pena, and track them to a home in Houston Texas where they would be arrested
Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel and Franklin Pena have both been charged with capital murder
Both men are from Venezuela and were in the country illegally
Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel and Franklin Pena News
Charges have been filed against two suspects arrested in the death of a juvenile female found at 400 West Rankin Road about 6:15 a.m. on Monday (June 17).
The suspects, Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel, 22, and Franklin Pena, 26, are charged with capital murder in the 232nd State District Court. Booking photos of both suspects are attached to this news release.
The victim has been identified as Jocelyn Nungaray, 12.
HPD Homicide Division Sergeant R. Olive and Detective T. Tyler reported:
HPD patrol officers responded to a person down call at the above address and found the body of a female in a shallow creek. She was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Investigators believed foul play was involved.
Further investigation by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences identified Ms. Nungaray as the victim and her cause of death as strangulation.
A preliminary investigation and evidence from the scene identified two male persons of interest. Surveillance photos of those individuals were released on Tuesday (June 18).
Subsequent investigation and tips from witnesses identified the suspects as Martinez-Rangel and Pena. On Thursday (June 20), officers with the HPD Northbelt Patrol Division Crime Suppression Team, SWAT team and the Gang and Homicide Divisions located Martinez-Rangel and Pena at an apartment complex in the 13300 block of Northborough Drive. Both men were arrested without incident. The Harris County District Attorney’s Office was contacted and the two suspects were subsequently charged for their roles in this incident.
Anyone with additional information in this case is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600.
https://www.houstontx.gov/police/nr/2024/jun/nr240621-3.htm
Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel and Franklin Pena Other News
Two men have been charged with capital murder in the strangulation of a 12-year-old girl whose body was discovered in a shallow creek in north Houston.
Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel, 22, and Franklin Pena, 26, were charged Friday with capital murder of a child between 10 and 15 years old, according to authorities and court records.
Jocelyn Nungaray was found about 6:15 a.m. Monday, and the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences determined she died by strangulation, according to Houston police.
Officials on Thursday said they had been working nonstop to take whoever was responsible for Jocelyn’s death off the streets. Surveillance video and witnesses led police to the arrests Thursday, officials said.
“The teams were out there, and they were scouring every potential video feed, and they were talking to everybody possible that might have seen something or heard something,” said Houston’s Acting Police Chief Larry Satterwhite. “Their hard work paid off because we were able to find video and … trace the movements of our suspects and … of Jocelyn … all the way to the point of where she was murdered and left in a bayou in the water.”
Tests would determine if the girl was sexually assaulted, Satterwhite said.
“As the mayor, as a grandfather and a father — it doesn’t get any worse,” he said.
Houston police Lt. Stephen Hope said the suspects left a restaurant together Sunday night and were spotted on a surveillance camera. Officials said the men were later seen talking to Jocelyn, and the three walked together to a convenience store, where images were captured and later released to the public, police said.
The trio then walked to a bridge, where Jocelyn was killed, Hope said.
The suspects and Jocelyn spent a few hours together before she was killed, Hope said.
Martinez-Rangel and Pena were being held in the Harris County Jail Friday afternoon, according to John Donnelly, a spokesperson for the county’s district attorney’s office.
Martinez-Rangel and Pena were expected to make their first appearance in court Friday during a probable cause hearing before a magistrate in which prosecutors were going to request $1 million bond for each suspect, Donnelly said.
It was unclear late Friday if Martinez-Rangel and Pena had retained attorneys.
The suspects weren’t eligible for the death penalty as of Friday afternoon, but that might change as their cases progress through the courts, Donnelly said.
Both suspects had immigration violation holds from Immigration and Customs Enforcement on their court records.
At Thursday’s news conference, authorities said to contact Homeland Security Investigations regarding questions about the suspects’ immigration statuses. No one with the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services or ICE were reached Friday for comment.
NBC affiliate KPRC in Houston reported Jocelyn’s mother, Alexis Nungaray, said she had never seen the two men before. She didn’t know if her daughter knew them and told the news station that they did not live at the complex where she and Jocelyn live