Family of 2019 Rio Grande City murder victim moving forward

Valeria Salinas

A Rio Grande City’s family grief over the loss of a woman killed by a convicted felon out on parole in 2019 remains fresh, but in a statement by the Starr County’s District Attorney’s Office on Thursday, the family expressed gratitude for the attempt to bring the felon to justice.

“Holding her in our arms as she took her last breath on the floor of our home is a memory that we will never forget,” Valeria Salinas’ parents wrote in their impact statements.

Salinas was living in Houston at the time, but she was visiting her parents in Rio Grande City for Easter in 2019. A burglar broke in and killed her in the process, according to the district attorney’s statement. Ismael Mares, Jr. who had a violent criminal history, including an indictment from October 2009 was the suspect.

VIOLENT SUSPECT

In March 2008, Mares was accused of attempting to kill a woman whose home he burglarized. Two years later, the attempted murder charge was dismissed when he pleaded guilty to the burglary and assault of a public servant. He was convicted and sentenced to serve 15 years; he was out on parole by 2017.

A day after Salinas’ death, Mares was arrested for violating the terms of his parole. But, before a grand jury would hear evidence in the Salinas murder, Mares died at age 44; he was found hanging in his prison cell in Rosharon, Texas, on Aug. 22.

MISSING INDICTMENT

DPS turned the case over to the district attorney’s office in December 2020, according to comments made previously to The Monitor by the district attorney at the time, Omar Escobar Jr.

The new district attorney took office the following month.

“I didn’t take over until January of 2021, and I can tell you that the investigation is ongoing and is not complete,” Gocha Ramirez, current district attorney, told The Monitor in late August. He said they knew why the indictment did not move forward, but did not disclose information until this week.

In the six-page news release, new details of the investigation were shared, including evidence released to the district attorney’s office six months after the case was transferred to them.

“Over the months following his arrest, my office began to systematically collect the evidence described above and carefully put together the case for presentation to a Grand Jury for an indictment,” the statement read. “The last DPS crime lab result was forwarded to my office on July 30, 2021.”

Less than a month after the last piece of evidence came back, their suspect was dead from a suicide, according to the district attorney’s office.

After the suicide, the Salinas family decided to issue a news release rather than to host a press conference.

SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE

“The evidence against Ismael Mares, Jr. for the Capital Murder of Ms. Valeria Salinas is overwhelming and leaves no doubt that he committed this homicide,” the statement read.

Ismael Mares Jr.

Investigators found Mares’ account of his whereabouts the day of the homicide troubling, especially after they spoke to the people he claimed to have visited. One of them said Mares tried selling them a .22 caliber handgun, the same caliber used against Salinas. A Phoenix Arms .22 caliber handgun was later recovered from Mares’ home.

That same weapon fired four .22 caliber casings and a misfired casing found at the crime scene, according to DPS lab results.

Jewelry matching the description of items taken from the Salinas home and gunshot residue particles on Mares’ clothing were also recovered from the suspect’s residence. Investigators also located a sneaker that matched the size and tread of a shoe print found on a purse at the crime scene belonging to Salinas.

A letter was also sent to the district attorney’s office from an inmate who was once housed with Mares at a Huntsville prison. He claimed Mares bragged about committing a murder in Starr County.

The inmate, later interviewed by Texas Rangers, shared details of the crime that had not been publicly released before and were consistent with collected evidence and the crime scene.

ONLY MEMORIES REMAIN

Valeria Salinas, known as Vale to her family, left kind memories from her life, though her parents remain haunted by the pain they felt after finding her in the burglarized home that Easter weekend.

Salinas moved to be closer to her sister in Houston and worked in public relations for a local school district. She was also one year away from receiving a master’s degree from a nearby university.

On Easter weekend, Salinas made the trip back home to Rio Grande City with her brother. Her parents stepped out of the house briefly on Saturday, April 20. Sometime in between, their lives were changed forever.

Salinas was shot and left bleeding out. Her parents found her after returning from a quick trip to the store. “Coming back from picking up ice cream for her and finding her the way we did is a trauma that we still deal with every day,” they wrote in their statement.

Salinas’ brother was in disbelief after realizing he would return to Houston alone. “The world has become smaller since she was taken from us,” he wrote.

Her sister, whom Salinas lived with for a few years in Houston, was dismayed. “I had so many beautiful moments with her. Now, all I’m left with are those memories,” she said in her impact statement.

The family thanked everyone involved in the investigation, family and friends. Though they acknowledged life is different since 2019.

“The family we once were no longer exists, but the love we have always felt for each other will carry us on,” they said via statement.

Aside from their commitment to honor Salinas’ memory, the family expressed frustration with a system that allowed Mares on parole.

“This release on parole of a criminal with a violent history can only be categorized as a fatal mistake,” the family stated. “We call for an evaluation of the process by which Valeria’s murderer was released, giving him the opportunity to not just steal material possession from our home but the most precious of all, Valeria’s life.”