Two men have been charged with the gruesome murder of a 12-year-old Texas girl.
Jocelyn Nungaray’s body was found floating in a creek near her home in Houston on Monday.
Johan José Rangel Martínez, 21, and Franklin José Peña Ramos, 26, have now been charged with capital murder following a search for the suspects.
Houston police explained that the murder of anyone under the age of 15 automatically results in a capital murder charge.
They previously suggested the young woman had also been raped and sent a sexual assault kit for further evidence.
Jocelyn Nungary, 12, was found dead from strangulation in a shallow creek near her home on Sunday.
Officials are also working with Homeland Security officials to see if Martinez and Ramos are illegal immigrants.
The medical examiner confirmed that Jocelyn died of strangulation.
Police released images of two persons of interest seen with the preteen hours before her death, after she ran away from home around 10 p.m.
Officers said the suspects, who lived on the same block as the girl, ran into Jocelyn and accompanied her to a convenience store.
She called her 13-year-old boyfriend from the store around midnight that night.
He reported hearing her talking to two adults, Houston Mayor John Whitmire announced at a news conference Tuesday.
Johan José Rangel Martínez, 21, and Franklin José Peña Ramos, 26, have been charged with capital murder following a search for the suspects.
Police said the suspects resided in the same apartment complex as the victim.
It is believed that Jocelyn first encountered the two men when she went to a convenience store.
His grieving mother, Alexis Nungary, is now struggling to process what happened.
“It’s like it’s not real,” he said. Click2Houston. ‘I keep listening to everything, and
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 angry,” Alexis added. ‘They took advantage of her.
‘He is very young, he is 12 years old. I want justice. I want whoever saw them to call the police. They took my baby.’