A man who shot and killed a security guard in 1995 during a road rage incident will spend 20 years in prison.
A man who shot and killed a security guard in 1995 during a road rage incident will spend 20 years in prison.
Gabriel DeLeon, 42, appeared in an orange jail jumpsuit Monday morning in front of 138th state District Judge Arturo Cisneros Nelson, who sentenced Gabriel DeLeon to two decades in prison. He will get credit for time served.
DeLeon was arrested in August 2016 after Mexican law enforcement, acting on investigative information from the Cameron County Sheriff’s Department, learned DeLeon was living in Matamoros.
DeLeon, along with his sister, Gloria Zamarripa DeLeon, 46; Eduardo Zamarripa DeLeon, 42; and Maria De Los Angeles Zamarripa DeLeon, were charged with shooting and beating Marcos Rodriguez Sr. to death on Nov. 7, 1995.
The victim’s body was found in a ditch in a grassy area near FM 803 and FM 511. He was 54.
During the sentencing hearing, the victim’s children tearfully testified about the impact their father’s death has had on their lives.
Marcos Rodriguez Jr. testified that the loss of his father has left him feeling empty, but said his father was honest and proud.
“He gave us everything we wanted, everything we needed,” said Michael Rodriguez, the victim’s other son.
The courtroom was full of more than a dozen of the victim’s family members.
Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio said Gabriel DeLeon and Gloria Zamarripa DeLeon fled to Mexico after Eduardo Zamarripa DeLeon and Maria De Los Angeles Zamarripa DeLeon were arrested in 1999.
The case had gone cold but an anonymous letter mailed to the Commerce Police Department in Commerce, Okla., cracked the case open.
Gloria Zamarripa DeLeon still hasn’t been found, but Lucio said cold case investigators are still working with their Mexican counterparts to apprehend her. Lucio said investigators believe that she is in central Tamaulipas.
Anyone with any information as to her whereabouts should call Cameron County Crime Stoppers at (956) 350-5551 or (866) 350-5551.
Eduardo Zamarripa DeLeon pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, murder and engaging in a criminal conspiracy on May 10, 1999, and was sentenced to ten years in prison and Maria De Los Angeles Zamarripa DeLeon was sentenced to five years in prison on June 7, 1999, after pleading guilty to those same charges, online Cameron County court records show.
For more, read tomorrow’s Brownsville Herald.
