A Venezuelan migrant accused of killing 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray and cutting off the ankle monitoring device she was given upon her release to the United States was ordered held on $10 million bail on Monday.
Franklin Jose Peña Ramos, 26, illegally crossed the southern border in El Paso, Texas, last month, The Washington Post first reported last week, citing sources.
Peña Ramos and another Venezuelan migrant who entered the country illegally, Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, are charged with murder in Jocelyn’s death.
Authorities say the perpetrators lured the girl out of her home, tied her up, removed her trousers, strangled her and dumped her body in a swamp.
A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) source told The Post that Peña Ramos had her ankle monitor disconnected on Monday, two days after Jocelyn’s body was discovered in a Houston marshland.
According to local reports, both immigrants waived their right to appear in court. The district attorney’s office had asked for bail to be set at $1 million each.
Rangel Martinez was also being monitored by an ankle monitor, but authorities removed him from the device on May 15 after they determined he had no criminal history and showed up for required screening, officials said.
Peña Ramos was scheduled to appear before an immigration judge in July, while Rangel Martinez was scheduled to appear in immigration court in August.
Both defendants are subject to immigration detention measures, which ICE is using to secure their detention.
Jocelyn had snuck out of her home around 10pm on Sunday. According to investigators.
The girl was later seen on surveillance camera footage at a local convenience store, where the suspects were seen following her as she entered the store.
Jocelyn’s mother, Alexis Nungarei, said she believed her daughter had been “used” by her killers.
“I’m angry that they took advantage of her. She was so young,” her grieving mother told KHOU.
Jocelyn’s funeral will be held on Thursday and will be paid for by Texas furniture magnate Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale.
A Houston man discovered Jocelyn’s body the day after she ran away from her home. A local resident driving by the creek initially thought the body was a mannequin, but then… she told KTRK-TV..
“I did a U-turn, parked on the bridge, put my flashers on, looked down and saw someone there. I just parked here and called 911 right away,” she said.
The two Venezuelan migrants were arrested Thursday at a local apartment where they lived together as roommates.
When officers arrived, one of the gunmen tried to escape by jumping off a balcony, but was eventually arrested by authorities, a witness told local outlet KHOU.
It is not yet clear whether the two murder suspects had ties to the Venezuelan gang El Tren de Aragua.
Recently, we have heard a lot of stories about illegal immigrants committing violent crimes.
Earlier this month, an Ecuadorian immigrant is accused of binding, gagging and raping a 13-year-old girl in broad daylight in a Queens park.
The suspected rapist, Christian Giovanny Inga Landi, 25, illegally crossed the border into Eagle Pass, Texas, in 2021 and was ordered deported by an immigration judge the following year but never left the country, The Washington Post previously reported.
Authorities also arrested a Salvadoran immigrant who allegedly entered the U.S. illegally three times in two months, was expelled and then entered undetected on a fourth attempt and raped and killed Rachel Morin, a mother of five who lives in Maryland.
