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Who was Jocelyn Nungaray? Trump meets 12-year-old Houston murder victim's family
Two illegal migrant suspects were charged with capital murder in the death of Jocelyn Nungaray – found dead in a creek in June after being sexually assaulted.
Former President Donald Trump met the family of 12-year-old Houston girl Jocelyn Nungaray at the US-Mexico border on Thursday, August 22. The Republican presidential candidate, whose campaign speeches have often been fuelled by the immigration debate, previously blamed the Biden administration for the young girl's death in June.
Two Venezuelan nationals – 21-year-old Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel and 26-year-old Franklin Jose Peña Ramos – who reportedly illegally entered the US earlier this year are charged with capital murder in Nungaray's death. Police said that the two suspects strangled Jocelyn to death before dumping her in a Houston creek in Texas on June 17.
Trump cited this case as supposed proof of the Democrats' “weak border security policy.” He even turned against Biden on Truth Social previously for the same reason, saying that “we have a new Biden Migrant Killing – It's only going to get worse, and it's all Crooked Joe Biden's fault.”
Why is Jocelyn Nungaray's murder case in the news again?
The Houston murder case has again been put under the spotlight as the attorney of one of the illegal migrant suspects has filed for a protective order to ensure that he will not be blocked from his right to a fair trial. The case has especially caught a lot of negative media attention, with Nungaray's death being linked to another high-profile crime by migrants.
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Despite studies trying to bust the stereotypical and “mythical tie between immigration and crime", such discussions continue to blow out of proportion. A Stanford research states, “Immigrants are 30 per cent less likely to be incarcerated than are U.S.-born individuals who are white.”
According to US media reports published on August 26, Franklin Jose Peña Ramos' (26) attorneys have filed a protective order “preventing the parties to this cause, law enforcement officials, the Houston Forensic Science Center, or court personnel from making extrajudicial statements or otherwise disseminating information concerning this cause by any means of public communications.”
As reviewed by Fox News Digital, the filing says that media attention was “likely to produce a result of undue prejudice” in the trial.
Attorneys further argued, “The additional extra-judicial statements to the news media are likely to produce a result of undue prejudice in the community to deprive the Defendant of a fair trial guaranteed by Article I of the Texas Constitution and the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.”
The documents also cited Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg saying: "[M]make no mistake, this is a horrific crime" and “the immigration system is broken.” The protective order filing argued that Ogg's “numerous statements about the case that went beyond the statements of the prosecutor during the probable cause hearing” would inject the trial with prejudice.
The request concluded with the attorneys requesting all parties involved “refrain from making any further extrajudicial statements relating to this cause and to refrain from further dissemination of information, regardless of whether the information was previously disclosed to the public, concerning this cause by way of public communication, and for all other relief just and proper in the case.”
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What has Jocelyn Nungaray's family said about the tragedy?
Nungaray's mother, Alexis Nungaray, asserted Pena and Martinez “shouldn't have been released” after they were first detained. Discussing border enforcement during the family's meeting with Trump at the southern border on August 22, Alexis said: “There was over 300 detention beds that they should have been at (sic) because they were detained, and they were released when they shouldn’t have been released. One had an ankle monitor, but that didn't stop anything.”
July reports also showed that her family and forensic tests indicated that the 12-year-old girl had been sexually assaulted before being strangled to death. Lab results in connection with her death from the Harris County District Attorney's Office suggested that semen was found on her.
If the suspects are found guilty of sexual assault, they would be eligible for the death penalty. However, Jocelyn's family doesn't want that to be the case. Instead, they want the suspects eternally plagued by what they did.
"I want them to remember Jocy the rest of their life," Melfri Vargas, Kevin Alvarenga's (Jocelyn's grandfather) wife, told Fox 26. “I want, every time they go to sleep, they remember what they did and show the others you don’t mess with our child, you don’t mess with the United States, you don’t mess with Texas.”
Nungaray's grandfather was also against his granddaughter being used as a “political base." He wants people to “know her name is Jocelyn Nungaray.” He told the outlet, “We just want to make a difference for Jocy. We don’t want Jocy's memory or name to be easily forgotten.”
Alvarenga would like to see the murderers face life without parole so that they're always reminded of what they did to Jocelyn. “I rather for them to remember this in general population,” he said. "Life without parole, that way they can remember every night when they go to bed, the horrific deal that they did to our family."
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Nungaray family's response to Trump's involvement
Nungaray's family is especially grateful for what Trump has done for them. Her mother expressed her “shock” at being contacted by the former president after her daughter's demise. The New York Post revealed that he spoke with her for ten minutes before stepping on the debate stage in June.
“He wanted to … say that he was praying for Alexis and that he’s been thinking about her and he wanted to reach out. He said that he was going to reach out in a couple days to her … I mean, she was really … we were all shocked,” Alexis Nugaray's best friend Victoria Galvan told the outlet.
Jocelyn's mother is reportedly a single mom. She also has a 5-year-old son who constantly asks for his sister and wants to be with her. “She's a single mom and one of the hardest things for her and us to explain to a 5-year-old that his Cici will not be at home anymore,” Vargas told Fox 26. “He asks when is he going to see Cici. We try to explain the best way we can to a little one. It's not an easy thing to do. He always asks for her, he wants to go see her.”
Reports state that Jocelyn had gone out for a walk to a convenience store when she was “lured” under a bridge. Referring to the murder suspects, Harris County Assistant District Attorney Michael Abner said they “remained with her for over 2 hours, took her pants off, tied her up, and killed her, then threw her body into the bayou.”
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson confirmed in a statement, “Martinez and Pena both illegally entered the U.S. without inspection, parole or admission by a U.S. immigration officer on an unknown date and at an unknown location.”
They are due back in court in September.
