Miami Standard (Webb County, TX) – A grand jury in Webb County, Texas, has brought charges against a man nearly ten years following his alleged attempt to sexually assault a mother of nine, who was tragically killed while walking home from work.

Through the application of sophisticated forensic techniques, authorities from the Texas Rangers and Laredo Police Department have pinpointed 42-year-old Sergio Mendez as the individual suspected of murdering 33-year-old Janette Escamilla Jaramillo in Laredo, Texas, back in 2016.

According to a press release from the Texas Rangers, Jaramillo departed from work to head home around midnight on May 18, 2016, but she never arrived at her destination.

At dawn, employees from the Laredo Parks and Recreation Department found Jaramillo’s body beneath a skate ramp at Seven Flags Park.

According to law enforcement officials, Seven Flags Park is situated just a few blocks from Jaramillo’s residence.

Authorities discovered that the victim had suffered a horrific strangulation following an attempted sexual assault.

As the investigation unfolded, detectives examined surveillance video that captured Jaramillo strolling alongside an unknown individual roughly half an hour after she departed from her workplace.

Authorities characterised the individual as being of tall stature, sporting short, cropped hair, and dressed in a trash bag, presumably due to the rainy weather that evening.

At that moment, however, there was insufficient evidence to detain a suspect in Jaramillo’s case.

In 2021, investigators successfully secured funding from the Department of Justice (DOJ) after recognising the case’s eligibility for the Texas Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) program.

The financial support enables agencies nationwide to delve deeper into unresolved sexual assault cases and homicides linked to sexual offences.

Authorities utilised the resources to carry out sophisticated DNA analysis, leading to the identification of Mendez as a suspect.

On March 12, Mendez was indicted by a grand jury. He is presently incarcerated and is facing a 10-year prison term in Edinburg, Texas, due to an unrelated offence.

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