Two illegal immigrants accused of murdering 12-year-old Jocelyn Nangaray in Houston, Texas, last month are now also accused of sexually assaulting her, forensic examiners have revealed new details about the case.
As Breitbart News reported, illegal Venezuelan immigrants Johan Jose Martinez Rangel, 22, and Franklin Peña, 26, were both released into the United States from the southern border and charged with murdering Jocelyn Nungaray in the early morning hours of June 17.
On Monday, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office It was published An examination of Jocelyn’s body by the Houston Forensic Science Center determined that she had been sexually assaulted before she was murdered.
The murder charges against Martinez-Rangel and Peña do not warrant the death penalty, but the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said that adding sexual assault charges against each suspect would change that and allow them to be held without bail.
Martinez Rangel and Peña are each being held on $10 million bail.
Venezuelan illegal immigrants Franklin Peña and Johan Jose Martinez Rangel. (Photo provided by Houston Police Department)
On June 17, the day Jocelyn was murdered, her body was found in a creek near a bridge: she was naked from the waist down, her hands and feet were bound, and she had cuts all over her back.
Prosecutors said Martinez Rangel admitted to binding Jocelyn’s hands and feet and telling Peña to dump her body in a creek under a bridge. An autopsy determined Jocelyn had been strangled to death.
At the time of his arrest, Martinez-Rangel had scratches and bite marks on his body that appeared to be from a struggle with Jocelyn, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors allege that after he allegedly dumped the girl’s body in a creek, Martinez-Rangel shaved his beard and researched ways to flee the United States to avoid arrest.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, Border Patrol agents arrested Martinez-Rangel at the border near El Paso, Texas, on March 14. He was released on U.S. soil the same day on a Notice to Appear at a Later Date (NTA) before a federal immigration judge.
Border Patrol agents arrested Peña near El Paso on May 28 and released him on U.S. soil the same day under a Homeland Security Agency bail order, just 20 days before he allegedly helped kill Jocelyn.
The House Homeland Security Committee subsequently found that Peña and Martinez Rangel were released from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) custody at the border, even though Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had thousands of detention beds available at the time of their release.
ICE agents have issued detention orders for all of them, requesting that they be held if they are released from jail at any time.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter. here.
