Wife of Texas Shooting Suspect Arrested for Helping Him Evade Capture

AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Divimara Lamar Nava, the wife of Francisco Oropeza, a man suspected of killing five of his neighbors in Texas, was arrested on May 3 for allegedly helping him avoid capture for four days. Oropeza was finally apprehended on May 1 after being found hiding in a pile of laundry in a closet.

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Authorities say the suspect began firing shots on his property and attacked his neighbors after they asked him to move farther away because the gunfire was keeping a baby awake. The victims were identified as Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 9. Each of the victims were from Honduras.

The Associated Press reported:

Lamar Nava was arrested early Wednesday and was being held in the Montgomery County jail on a felony charge of hindering the apprehension or prosecution of a known felon, according to online jail records. The records do not list a bond for her and indicate she was arrested by state police at a home in Conroe.

Also, San Jacinto County District Attorney Todd Dillon said a “friend” of Oropeza’s, Domingo Castilla, was also arrested Tuesday in the neighborhood where the shooting took place. Castilla was taken in for marijuana possession but authorities “expect” to also charge him with other crimes, including hindering Oropeza’s apprehension, Dillon said.

The U.S. Marshals, Texas Department of Public Safety, and US Border Patrol’s BORTAC team were the three agencies involved in catching the suspect.

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The four-day manhunt ended on Tuesday when authorities received a tip that led them to a house where the suspect was hiding. Specifically, the authorities found Oropeza hiding underneath a pile of laundry in the closet of the house.

The day after the suspect was found, a news conference was held in Coldspring, where Tim Kean, the chief deputy with the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office, gave a statement. Kean confirmed that on Monday afternoon, authorities had spotted Oropeza in Montgomery County, which led to several schools being locked down. Kean stated that the sighting was not a false alarm and that the suspect was seen on foot, running, but the authorities lost track of him. Kean made the statement outside the county jail.

Oropeza is a Mexican national who has been deported four times between 2009 and 2016, a fact that Democrats and the activist media have downplayed.

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