(An earlier version of this story contained an inaccuracy)
During his congressional address Tuesday night, President Donald Trump held a new executive order renaming a wildlife sanctuary to honor Jocelyn Nungaray.
Undocumented migrants Johan Jose Martinez-Range and Franklin Peña
are charged with killing Nangaray, a 12-year-old girl, on the morning of June 17. Trump announced the tribute after introducing Nungaray’s mother, Alexis Nungaray, at the joint session of Congress.
“Across Galveston Bay, from where Jocelyn lived in Houston, you will find a magnificent National Wildlife Refuge, a pristine, peaceful, 34,000-acre sanctuary for all of God’s creatures on the edge of the Gulf of America. Alexis, moments ago, I formally renamed that refuge in loving memory of your beautiful daughter, Jocelyn,” Trump said.
A resident discovered Nungaray’s body on June 17 after the child was strangled to death, according to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. Police arrested Martinez-Rangel, 22, and Peña, 26, at their apartment on June 20.
Jocelyn was murdered three to four hours after meeting Peña and Martinez-Range upon leaving a restaurant together, Houston police Lt. Stephen Hope said last June. Jocelyn had snuck out of her family’s apartment that night.
Prosecutors said the two men allegedly asked Jocelyn for directions, according to the
. The two led Jocelyn to a 7-Eleven convenience store and then to the bridge where she was murdered, Hope said.
Martinez-Range and Peña remain jailed with $10 million bond
Peña and Martinez-Rangel were both charged with capital murder, with a Harris County judge setting a $10 million bond, according to court records.
In December, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced it would be
seeking the death penalty for both men
.
“Jocelyn’s murder was as vile, brutal and senseless as any case in my tenure as district attorney,” Ogg said in a statement. “And it was made worse by knowing that these two men were here illegally and, had they been held after being captured at the border, they would never have had the opportunity to murder Jocelyn and destroy her family’s future.”
Contributing: Jonathan Limehouse
