Suspect in Houston Crime Spree Is Charged With Capital Murder

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/18/us/houston-serial-killer-rodriguez.html

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A 46-year-old man suspected of cutting his ankle monitor and going on a weeklong crime spree in the Houston area has been charged with two counts of murder and is expected to get an additional murder charge on Wednesday, the authorities said.

The man, Jose Gilberto Rodriguez, was caught on Tuesday after a car chase with deputies that took him through neighborhoods near and in Houston, Texas’s largest city, where the authorities say he carried out his spree.

They have linked him to three killings, a home invasion, robberies and an assault of a city bus driver between July 9 and July 16. In some of the cases, the authorities said, he drove away in the cars of his victims.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez and Chief Art Acevedo of the Houston Police Department announced Tuesday that they had charged Mr. Rodriguez with capital murder in the killing of Pamela Johnson, 62, last Friday. Her body was found inside her Cypress home, outside of Houston, and her car had been stolen.

Her car was found on Saturday at Houston’s Willowbrook Mall, the same day an employee of a nearby mattress store was found dead in the store, the police said. On Monday, the body of another victim was found in a separate mattress store in Houston, the police said.

The other murder charge against Mr. Rodriguez is for the killing of one of the mattress store victims, Chief Acevedo said. A third murder charge is expected to be filed on Wednesday.

Mr. Rodriguez is also a suspect in a violent home invasion robbery on July 9 and an assault on a bus driver on Monday, the chief said. The authorities have not announced formal charges against Mr. Rodriguez in those crimes, and they believe he might be involved in others.

“We are not naïve enough to believe the totality of the crimes are what we have identified and what we are working on,” Chief Acevedo said.

Court records show that Mr. Rodriguez is being held in jail without bond. He is scheduled to have his first court appearance on Thursday.

Mr. Rodriguez, a registered sex offender who was on parole, had cut his ankle monitor before he embarked on the spree, the police said. Houston-area communities were on edge after the authorities said they believed he was casing neighborhoods and knocking on doors pretending to need help finding someone.

“There is no doubt in our mind he intended to find the next victim,” Sheriff Gonzalez said on Tuesday.

When deputies caught up with him after the car chase, Mr. Rodriguez put his hands out the window, appearing to know the chase was over, a deputy said.

The authorities found a gun in his car. They have declined to say why they believed the string of crimes were linked to one suspect.

After his arrest, Mr. Rodriguez said little to detectives, who described him as “stoic.” His public defenders could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.