Juan Carlos Garcia-Rodriguez is expected to be charged with capital murder in the rape and strangulation earlier this month of 11 year old Maria Rodriguez. Garcia-Rodriguez was set to make his first court appearance today and could return to the Houston area later this week.
The child's body was found at her apartment home in Pasadena on August 12, wrapped in a trash bag and stuffed inside a laundry basket that had been hidden under her bed. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled. Her father discovered his daughter's lifeless body.
He was arrested this past weekend, after being identified as a person of interest on Friday.
Garcia-Rodriguez was detained for about a month after his arrest in El Paso earlier this year. He was released to sponsors in Louisiana and given a court date. He never appeared for that date and instead, showed up in Pasadena.
Maria's family issues the following statement to media:
“We want to say thank you to the Pasadena Police Department and to Louisiana police and any officials that participated in bringing this cold-blooded murderer into custody. This arrest has brought the family and community some peace. We are extremely thankful that he cannot cause this type of pain to anybody again. I ask for those who are in charge to give us justice. May he be burdened with the full weight of the law, for what he has done to my daughter.”