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Jocelyn Nungaray was a twelve-year-old American girl who was brutally killed by two men on June 24, 2024, in North Houston, Texas.
As per police, she was sexually assaulted and murdered by accused Johan José Martínez-Rangel, 22, and Franklin José Peña Ramos, 26. Her body was found in a creek in North Houston, and it was determined that she was raped and killed by strangulation.
The accused were arrested on June 20 in suspicion of Jocelyn’s murder. Both were charged with capital murder, trial is ongoing. The prosecution is seeking the death penalty for the defendants.
She was murdered three to four hours after meeting Peña and Martinez-Range upon leaving a restaurant together, Houston police Lt. Stephen Hope said last June. Jocelyn had snuck out of her family’s apartment that night.
Prosecutors said the two men allegedly asked Jocelyn for directions, according to the Houston Chronicle. The two led Jocelyn to a 7-Eleven convenience store and then to the bridge where she was murdered, Hope said.
It is said that the two are undocumented migrants.
Latest Development:
The US President on Tuesday night honored Jocelyn by renaming a wildlife sanctuary to honor Jocelyn Nungaray. In this regard, he issued his executive order during his congressional address.
“Across Galveston Bay, from where Jocelyn lived in Houston, you will find a magnificent National Wildlife Refuge, a pristine, peaceful, 34,000-acre sanctuary for all of God’s creatures on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico. Alexis, moments ago, I formally renamed that refuge in loving memory of your beautiful daughter, Jocelyn,” Trump said in his address.
Introducing Alexis Nungaray, the mother of Jocelyn Nungaray, who was one of his guests during his first speech to a joint session of Congress, Trump said, “Alexis, I promised that we would always remember your daughter, your magnificent daughter”.
Trump said that he had learned from Jocelyn’s mother that the 12-year-old “loved animals so much – she loved nature,” and that to honour this he has ordered the renaming of a wildlife refuge.
