A teenager who was first the subject of an AMBER Alert is now behind bars accused of murder.
Garland Police said 17-year-old Natalie Navarro was booked at the Dallas County Jail Tuesday evening for murder in the Aug. 29 shooting death of 21-year-old Arturo Pena.
A second suspect, 21-year-old Yordy "Jordy" Martinez, is still on the run.
Pena's body was found in a vehicle stopped along the 300 block of West Oates Road in Audubon Park. A passerby notified police that a man appeared to be passed out in the vehicle, but officers arrived and said the man was dead from an apparent gunshot wound. Pena, police said, had been reported to the Dallas Police as a missing person on Aug. 27.
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Garland Police said during the investigation into Pena's murder, Navarro became the subject of an AMBER Alert issued by the Dallas police after she was last seen at about 2:15 p.m. that afternoon and was believed to be in grave or immediate danger.
The AMBER Alert for Navarro was discontinued at about 3:30 a.m. and Garland Police later confirmed she'd been found by law enforcement in Webb County in South Texas and was safe and in custody.
Now that Navarro is behind bars, Pena’s loved ones hope a second arrest will follow soon.
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"Their life is already ruined. You took somebody’s life. At this point, you have nothing else to lose. You didn’t gain anything from this situation," said Veronica Lopez, Pena's girlfriend.
Following the discovery of Pena's body, Garland Police told NBC 5 that Navarro and Martinez were both persons of interest in Pena's death and that warrants for murder were being obtained for both of them.
"The reason why this happened, we've yet to totally determine that. We hope to get more when we talk to Natalie to see exactly what was going on if these persons knew each other, if they had a relationship if there was a falling out," said Garland Police Lieutenant Richard Moldonado.
Friends and family have their beliefs about what happened.
"He was very kind, and he was too sweet, and I guess he was too trusting of everyone, and trying to help everybody," Lopez said.
Meanwhile, Martinez is still at large and considered armed and dangerous.
The investigation into Pena's murder is ongoing.
Anyone with information on Martinez's location or Pena's murder is encouraged to call the Garland Police at 972-485-4840. Tips may also be submitted anonymously to Garland Crime Stoppers at 972-272-8477 (TIPS) or garlandcrimestoppers.org. Crime Stoppers will pay up to a $5,000.00 reward for information leading to an arrest.
TEXAS STATEWIDE ALERT PROGRAMS
There are eight kinds of alerts that can be issued for missing or endangered people in Texas. They are listed below with links to a page with more information.
