Terrifying new details have emerged in the investigation into the murder of a 12-year-old girl who was found strangled in a creek just hours after running away from her home.
Police said Jocelyn Nungaray’s body was found floating in a creek near her home in Houston, Texas, on Monday after she ran away from the house at 10 p.m.
It has since been revealed that the preteen headed to a local store, where officers believe she was approached by two unidentified male suspects.
She she called her 13-year-old boyfriend from the store around midnight that night, and he would later report that he heard her talking to two adults, Houston Mayor John Whitmire announced at a news conference Tuesday.
“A report will be issued shortly on very bad and horrible circumstances,” he promised, before revealing that the young woman was raped. according to KHOU.
Jocelyn Nungary, 12, was found dead from strangulation in a shallow creek near her home on Sunday.
His grieving mother, Alexis Nungary, is now struggling to process what happened.
“It’s like it’s not real.” he told Click2Houston. “I keep hearing everything, and everyone tells me everything, and I listen to it and I don’t register it.”
She remembers telling her daughter around 10pm on Sunday not to stay up too late, as she would be meeting her at work the next day. Those would be the last words he spoke to her daughter.
At 3 a.m. Monday, Alexis said she noticed Jocelyn’s cat was “going crazy,” but assumed she was with her daughter, who always slept with her pet at night.
It wasn’t until he woke up at 6 a.m. and began his normal routine of waking up his five-year-old son and Jocelyn that he realized his daughter was missing.
Police have identified two men as “persons of interest” in the murder investigation.
She then frantically searched around the house and walked around the apartment complex looking for her daughter, then got into her car and called her daughter’s cell phone.
It traces back to a creek where police were already investigating.
That morning, Billie Jackson was driving home from dropping her husband off at work when she found Jocelyn’s body in a shallow creek.
“I walked by and when I looked down at the creek, I thought it was a mannequin,” Jackson he told ABC 13.
“I made a U-turn, stopped on the bridge, turned on my flashers, looked down and realized it was someone. I parked right here and called 911,” he said.
It is believed that Jocelyn first encountered the two men when she went to a convenience store.
Alexis says she now wants justice for her little daughter.
He said he doesn’t believe he knows the two men Jocelyn was seen with at the store, whom the Houston Police Department has identified as “persons of interest in the case.”
But Alexis says he suspects they live at the apartment complex or may have walked to the store from a nearby state park.
“I want karma to hit them, I’m mad,” Alexis told Click2Houston. ‘They took advantage of her.
“He is very young, he is 12 years old.
“I want justice,” he continued. ‘I want whoever saw them to call the police. They took my baby.’
Billie Jackson said she noticed Jocelyn’s body in the creek when she was returning home after dropping her husband off at work Monday morning.
Alexis also said she doesn’t know why Jocelyn ran away from home, although she noted that she has been struggling with her mental health in recent months.
“I don’t know why, what prompted her to walk late at night in this area, precisely,” Alexis said.
‘I always told her to never leave the house, to never leave her unattended and to always be safe. There are people around here who are crazy.
“I don’t think she ever thought I’d face her.”
She and other family members have described the preteen as a loving and affectionate child.
‘Jocy was an intelligent, loving and caring young woman,’ her uncle Joamel he told Click2Houston. ‘She lit up the room every time she walked by and everyone around her loved her.
“She had no reason to die that way.”
Alexis also described her as a “best friend” who was “very silly.”
“I had aspirations for life,” Alexis said. “She loved everyone, she was very kind.”
TO GoFundMe An account has now been set up to pay for Jocelyn’s funeral.
“Her family was not prepared for such a loss and (needs) help to give their daughter the tribute she deserves, honor her memory and say our last goodbye,” he says.
As of Wednesday night, it had already raised more than $16,000.