Bond set for suspects of 12-year-old Texas girl’s murder

A judge set a $10 million bond each for the two men charged with capital murder of a 12-year-old girl in Houston, sheriff records show. Johan Jose Martinez Rangel, 22, and Franklin Jose Pena Ramos, 26, are suspects in the murder of Jocelyn Nungaray. The men are both Venezuelans who illegally entered the United States, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told WORLD.

Who are the suspects? The U.S. Border Patrol apprehended Martinez near El Paso, Texas, on March 14 and released him the same day with a notice to appear in court, the ICE spokesman said. Pena was apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol on May 28 near El Paso and likewise was released the same day he was apprehended, the spokesman said.

What happened? Nungaray’s body was found in a shallow creek in Houston on June 17, police said. The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences later ruled her cause of death to be strangulation. Investigators examined security footage of the nearby area and on June 20 arrested the two men.

Dig deeper: Read my report on the arrest of the suspects.