A Brownsville teen has been certified to stand trial as an adult in the Dec. 14, 2020 stabbing death of Maria Teresa Esparza.
Authorities said George Neftaly Rodriguez was Esparza’s neighbor at the Waterside Apartments at the 4200 block of Boca Chica Boulevard in Brownsville, where the alleged killing occurred.
According to a Cameron County indictment, Rodriguez caused Esparza’s death by hitting her in the head with a glass candle and stabbing her with a knife or knives multiple times while attempting to commit an aggravated robbery. He has been indicted on a capital murder charge. He was 16 at the time the stabbing occurred. He is now 17.
Rodriguez was certified to stand trial as an adult in March and was indicted on the murder charge in May. He had a status hearing on Oct. 4. His next status hearing is scheduled for Jan. 10. He remains in a Cameron County jail and is being held on a no bond.
Meanwhile, an incident report released by the Brownsville Police Department on Thursday pertaining to Esparza’s death details what instruments may have been used in her death.
The Brownsville Herald filed an Open Records Request for the police report on Oct.5. The Herald had filed the same request seeking a copy of the report earlier this year but was denied a copy of the report.
According to the initial press release issued by Brownsville PD, officers responded to Esparza’s apartment in reference to a stabbing at the 4200 block of Boca Chica Boulevard. They found her dead and after investigating the stabbing, police arrested a 16-year-old boy.
The incident report classified the call the officers responded to as a family violence call. It later refers to the case as a homicide murder and non negligent manslaughter.
According to the report, police went to Esparza’s Waterside Apartment on a call in “reference to a subject down.” They were flagged down by her son, Francisco Esparza Jr., who told them his mother was inside the apartment. Esparza said he went to his mother’s apartment because he had been calling her but she did not answer the phone, the report states.
Esparza said when he arrived at his mother’s apartment he noticed the door was locked and used his key to open it. He stated when he entered the apartment he noticed the freezer door was open. When he went to his mother’s bedroom he found her on the floor with “blood splattered throughout the floor.” He checked her hand for a pulse but was unable to find one. He called 9-1-1.
When police went into the apartment they found Mrs. Esparza laying on the bedroom floor with blood splattered around her waistline and feet. Her body was face down, the report states.
“Officers then checked the surrounding area and noticed the room looked like it had been ransacked as makeup containers were scattered through the entrance to the bedroom door along with a set of keys and a wooden fold up table. Officers also noticed pieces of hair on the bottom of one of the legs of cabinets and noticed two kitchen knives and a pair of scissors next to the victim’s head,” the report states.
Further down in the report it states that Mrs. Esparza’s phone appeared to have been tossed inside a nearby trash dumpster. They could hear a “phone buzzing inside the trash dumpster outside the apartment.”
Mrs. Esparza was pronounced dead at the scene and an autopsy was ordered.
