Police in suburban Houston looking for person of interest in assault and killing of 11-year-old girl, whose body was found under her bed

Police in Pasadena, Texas say 18-year-old Juan Carlos Garcia-Rodriguez was taken into custody by police in Shreveport, Louisiana. He was identified as a person of interest in the ongoing investigation into the sexual assault and killing of an 11-year-old girl whose body was found Saturday underneath her bed in her family’s suburban Houston apartment.

Police in the Houston suburb said Maria Gonzalez had been home alone at about 10 a.m. on Saturday when someone knocked at her front door. The girl texted her father, Carmelo Gonzalez, 32, who had just gone to work.

In an interview with KHOU, Gonzalez said he told his daughter not to answer the front door. Maria Gonzalez said she wouldn’t and would stay in her bed. Carmelo Gonzalez said it was the last communication he received from his daughter.

“I kept calling and calling and she wouldn’t answer,” he told KHOU.

On his lunch break at about 1 p.m., Carmelo Gonzalez asked his brother and sister-in-law, who live in the same apartment complex, to check on his daughter, Pasadena Police Chief Josh Bruegger told reporters during a news conference on Tuesday.

The girl’s aunt and uncle found the front door unlocked and when they went inside, they found things were out of place. They looked around but could not find her, Bruegger said.

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Her aunt and uncle then began looking for her in the apartment complex.

When Carmelo Gonzalez returned home at about 3 p.m., he searched the apartment and found his daughter underneath her bed. He told KHOU that her body was wrapped in a trash bag and had been placed inside a laundry basket. Police said the girl had been strangled to death.

Bruegger said the girl was sexually assaulted. He said investigators don’t have a suspect and the girl’s father is not considered to be one as his alibi checked out.

“We have gathered numerous amounts of evidence, which we will process and will ultimately help to rule out any suspects. To protect the integrity of the investigation, we are not releasing specifics on evidence obtained at this time,” Officer Jessica Ramirez, a spokeswoman for Pasadena police, said in an email Thursday.

Early Friday afternoon, Pasadena Police identified 18-year-old Garcia-Rodriguez, from Guatemala, as a person of interest. Police said Garcia-Rodriguez was residing at the same apartment complex where the victim was found but has since left.

Garcia-Rodriguez is in custody in Louisiana awaiting extradition back to Texas. The Harris County District Attorney's office says it issues a warrant for his arrest. He will face charges of capital murder in connection with Gonzalez's death. It is unknown if Garcia-Rodriguez has an attorney.

Maria Gonzalez and her father had been living in the U.S. for about four years after immigrating from Guatemala. They had been living in the apartment for about three months, Bruegger said. They had previously lived in Austin and Florida. The girl’s mother and 7-year-old sister live in Guatemala.

Their apartment complex has a large Guatemalan population and because some are in the U.S. without legal permission, they have been reluctant to cooperate with police, Bruegger said.

“I’m here to tell you right now, immigration status on the case, it’s neither here nor there. The important thing right now is solving this case and getting the community safe,” Bruegger said.

Carmelo Gonzalez said his daughter was a good, quiet girl.

“They took away my girl, who I love the most,” Carmelo Gonzalez told KXLN in Houston.

Crime Stoppers of Houston offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.