The two men charged with the murder of a 12-year-old Texas girl are migrants from Venezuela who were released into the country despite being intercepted by border agents.
Franklin Jose Pena Ramos, 26, was fitted with a GPS ankle monitor by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent after he crossed at El Paso in Texas on May 28, but he had cut it off by the time the pair were arrested for killing Jocelyn Nungaray.
Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, 21, was also released after being intercepted by border agents on March 14, little more than three months before Jocelyn’s body was found floating in a creek near her Houston home on Monday.
Ramos told agents he planned to live with his cousin in Houston, but the tracker was only set to monitor his movements for 21 days, and he was sharing an apartment with Martinez when he was arrested.
Both men were charged with capital murder on Thursday, and investigators are awaiting the result of tests to confirm whether Jocelyn was raped as well as murdered.
Jocelyn Nungary, 12, was found dead by strangulation in a shallow creek near her home on Sunday
Ramos was released into the country after telling officials he he feared for his life if he was sent back to his home country, sources told The Post.
His discarded ankle monitor was found on Wednesday NewsNation reported.
More than 7.4 million migrants have been released on a non-detained docket after encounters with border patrol officers.
They are offered court appearance dates to decide their asylum requests sometimes years in the future.
The basis on which Martinez was released has not yet been revealed.
But Ramos was one of more than 184,000 enrolled into the Alternatives to Detention program for closer monitoring after raising suspicions at border encounters.
They are fitted with GPS monitors or required to regularly call phone systems that use voice recognition to confirm their identity.
Ramos, who was discovered crossing the border among a large group of migrants, was reportedly given a notice to appear at a court in San Antonio on August 29.
ICE was aware of ‘at least 617,607 criminal aliens’ not subject to detainment orders and ‘free to reoffend’, the House Judiciary Committee concluded in March.
Agents can do little if migrants abscond from the program and remove their ankle bracelets and more than 53,000 are known to have disappeared between 2014 and 2020.
Venezuelan gang member Diego Ibarra was placed on the program but cut off his ankle bracelet and disappeared in April 2023.
He was only arrested ten months later while police were hunting for his brother Jose over the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.
Johan Jose Rangel Martinez, 21, and Franklin Jose Pena Ramos, 26, have now been charged with capital murder following a manhunt for the suspects
Police said the suspects resided within the same apartment complex as the victim
It is believed Jocelyn first encountered the two men when she went to a convenience store
Police had issued images of two persons of interest seen with the Jocelyn hours before her death after she had snuck out of her home at around 10pm on Sunday night.
Officers said the suspects, who lived in the same block as the girl, bumped into the pre-teen and walked with her to a convenience store.
She called her 13-year-old boyfriend from the convenience store at around midnight that night.
He reported hearing her talking to two adults, Houston Mayor John Whitmire announced at a news conference Tuesday.
Her body was found by passerby Billie Jackson shortly after 6am on Monday morning in a shallow creek.
Speaking to ABC13, Jackson said: ‘I drove past, and when I looked up the creek, I thought it was a mannequin.
‘I did a U-turn, and I stopped on the bridge, put my flashers on, looked down, and realized it was someone. I parked right here and called 911 immediately.’
Her grieving mother, Alexis Nungary, is now struggling to process what has happened.
‘It’s like it’s not real,’ she told Click2Houston. ‘I keep hearing everything, and I hear it and it’s not registering.’
She recalled telling her daughter on Sunday not to stay up too late, as she was joining her at work the next day. Those would be the last words she ever spoke to her daughter.
By 3am on Monday, Alexis said she noticed Jocelyn’s cat was ‘going crazy,’ but assumed the cat was with her daughter, who always slept with her pet at night.
It wasn’t until she woke up at 6am and started her normal routine to wake up her five-year-old son and Jocelyn that she noticed her daughter was missing.
Alexis also said that she does not know why Jocelyn snuck out of the house, though she noted that she has struggled in recent months with her mental health.
‘I don’t know why, what possessed her to walk around late at night in this area out of all places,’ Alexis said.
‘I always told her to never leave the house, never leave unattended, always be safe.
‘There’s people around here that are crazy. I don’t think she ever thought it would face her.’
She and other family members have described the preteen as a loving and caring child.
Family members have described the preteen as a loving and caring child
Her grieving mother, Alexis Nungaray, pictured here, is now struggling to process what had happened
Earlier this week police in Houston issued a notice saying the two men were both persons of interest in the case
Billie Jackson said she noticed Jocelyn’s body in the creek on her way home from dropping her husband off at work Monday morning
Her uncle Joamel said: ‘Jocy was a smart, loving, nurturing young lady, She brightened up the room every time she came by and was loved by everyone around.’
Alexis also described her as the ‘greatest friend’ who was ‘very goofy. ‘She had aspirations for life,’ Alexis said. ‘She loved everyone, was so kind.’
Alexis said she suspects the two men either live in 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.
‘She’s so young, she’s 12. I want justice. I want whoever has seen them to please call police. They took my baby away.’