Three young men have been charged with the murder of a man who was gunned down while walking along a sidewalk in June 2022. Two of the accused are allegedly linked to a separate killing of a woman that happened about six weeks later.

Jordan Montalvo, 18, Carlos Romero-Munoz, 18, and Danilo Bonilla, 22, are charged with capital murder in the fatal shooting of Patrik Saul Maldonado in June 2022.

On June 25, 2022, Maldonado was walking on the sidewalk in the 7100 block of Woodridge in southeast Houston when he was targeted. Houston police released a home surveillance video appealing to the public for tips. The video shows Maldonado being chased before he was gunned down.

Maldonado reportedly ran toward a house to call for help but collapsed. He was found lying in the front yard and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Further investigation identified Romero-Munoz, Montalvo, and Bonilla as suspects in this case and Montalvo as the suspected shooter.

Maldonado was 58 years old and a widower. His daughter told ABC13 he had three children and was in Houston to work. Sources said Romero-Munoz and Montalvo claim to be part of the brutal MS-13 gang.

Montalvo and Romero-Munoz are also charged with capital murder in the death of Sandra Elizabeth Montes-Deescamilla in August 2022.

Authorities said Montes-DeEscamilla was kidnapped at her apartment complex on Aug.10, 2022, before she was shot to death in the trunk of her car.

According to court records, Montes-DeEscamilla, 45, was seen on surveillance video driving into the Falls of West Oak Apartments at about 2 a.m. Three men in masks and gloves were chasing her car as she turned into her unit.

The suspects allegedly tried to force her to get money out of the bank. When she didn’t comply, the teens made her drive to another complex on Rio Bonito, where they put her in the trunk of her Volkswagen and shot her, police said.

Eight days after the murder, detectives were able to match a palm print left on Montes’ car to Romero-Munoz, according to court records.

In August 2022, CPS confirmed to ABC13 that Romero-Munoz, 17 at the time, was in their system when Montes-DeEscamilla was killed. A CPS spokesperson said he was in the kinship care program.

Montalvo, Romero-Munoz, and Bonilla are expected to appear in court within the next week.

Source: abc13

A California man convicted of two counts of murder and crashing into an Uber vehicle while leading police on a chase and killing two passengers in 2020 has been sentenced to 50 years in prison, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.

“This is a man with a long criminal history, and he finally did the horrible thing that we worry about when someone continually commits crimes,” Ogg said. “These two young women, who were being responsible by using a rideshare service instead of driving, should have been safe riding home — they should still be alive.”

Brian Tatum, 47, was found guilty on Thursday of the murders of Priscilla DeLeon and Diana Salazar in the 351^stDistrict Court. On Monday, Tatum agreed to a punishment of 50 years in prison.

Tatum was driving a white Acura RDX when police tried to pull him over for a traffic stop in northeast Houston around 11:30 p.m. on Sept. 19, 2020. Tatum fled from police and drove about two miles. He was driving about 100 mph in a 35 mph zone when he T-boned a silver Honda Accord being driven by an Uber driver at the intersection of Jensen and Parker.

The force of the crash split the Honda in half, killing the passengers, Priscilla DeLeon, a 25-year-old graduate of Texas A&M University, and her cousin, Diana Salazar, a 24-year-old graduate of the University of Houston.

A Harris County jury convicted Tatum after a weeklong trial. Jurors deliberated just 39 minutes. Tatum was facing a sentence ranging from 25 years to life in prison based on his criminal history. Instead of letting jurors or a judge decide his punishment, he agreed to 50 years in prison, which he cannot appeal. He has to serve at least 25 years before he is eligible for parole.

Assistant District Attorney Kelly Marshall, who prosecuted the case with ADA Cameron Gonzales, said Tatum was born in Houston and moved to California where he had been convicted of several felonies, including evading arrest.

“He repeatedly fled from police, and it was only a matter of time before he killed someone,” Marshall said. “Unfortunately, he killed two wonderful and smart young women who were cousins and had an amazing family.”

After the verdict and plea agreement, more than two dozen family members who sat through the entire trial wearing buttons with a photo of both victims gathered just outside the courtroom to show solidarity. The mothers of the two victims stood together and sobbed as family and friends tried to comfort them.

Sean Teare, chief of the District Attorney’s Office’s Vehicular Crimes Division, noted that Tatum was being pulled over by deputy with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, but the crash was handled by the Houston Police Department.

“The vehicular crimes divisions of both of those agencies had to work this case together, and this outcome is a perfect example of interagency cooperation, along with the District Attorney’s Office,” Teare said. “We were all out there that night, and now this family can start to heal, knowing that this man will probably never get out of prison.”

Teare said a case like this offers a simple lesson: If you see police lights behind you, just stop. It’s most likely a traffic violation.

“But if you run and do something like this,” Teare said, “you may never get out of prison.”

A former detention officer at the Harris County Jail was indicted Thursday and charged with felony manslaughter in the February 2021 death of a jail inmate, the first time criminal charges have been filed against a detention officer in an in-custody end at the jail.

Eric Niles Morales, 28, of Houston, is charged in the death of Jaquaree Simmons, a 23-year-old Houston man found unconscious in his cell during Winter Storm Uri on Feb. 17, 2021. A Harris County medical examiner ruled that Simmons died of blunt-force trauma to his head. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez fired 11 detention officers and suspended six others in the wake of the investigation. Morales is the only one charged with the death.

Investigators said Simmons was arrested and booked into the jail on Feb. 10, 2021, on a charge of a felon possessing a weapon. Six days later, investigators said, Simmons used his clothes to clog his cell toilet, which caused it to overflow and flood his cell. Detention officers responded to Simmons’ cell to clean up the mess, which led to a physical confrontation between Simmons and detention officers.

Simmons was then left in the cell without clothing, which sheriff’s officials said was a violation of jail policy. When detention officers returned to the cell later that night, Simmons reportedly threw his meal tray at an officer and “charged at him,” according to the sheriff’s office. The officer then punched Simmons in the face and called for assistance to remove Simmons for a medical evaluation. Detention officers again used force in handcuffing and removing Simmons from the cell. It was in that confrontation that Simmons received “multiple blows to his head,” according to the sheriff’s office. Simmons received a medical evaluation and was later returned to his cell, where he was left unmonitored because of a power outage related to the winter storm and the failure of detention officers to conduct visual checks as required.

Simmons was found unresponsive and lying on his cell floor the next day and later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

The indictment charges that the 6’5”, 260-pound detention officer assaulted the 5’4”, 120-pound Simmons by kneeing him in the head, striking his head against a door, and dropping him on his head, resulting in his death.

Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Clark, of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office Civil Rights Division, said county residents expect detention officers to treat inmates fairly and humanely.

“Regardless of why they are in the jail, inmates should be safe from unlawful attacks by the very people who are sworn to protect them and keep them secure,” Clark said. “Harris County will prosecute those who break the law inside the jail, regardless of which side of the bars they are on.”