Texas police arrest illegal immigrant in 16-year-old cheerleader Lizbeth Medina’s murder

Texas police have apprehended a suspect in the murder of 16-year-old Lizbeth Medina, who was found dead in her apartment on Dec. 5.

The Edna Police Department on Sunday announced the arrest of Rafael Govea Romero, an “undocumented male” whom officials believe is “the person responsible for the death of Lizbeth Medina,” in Schulenburg.

“Edna Police Department and Texas Rangers immediately traveled to Schulenburg where Romero was placed under arrest for Capital Murder and transported to Jackson County Jail,” the department said in a Sunday morning press release. “Although Romero is apprehended, we recognize Lizbeth’s family and friends are grieving and still need support from the community. The citizens of Edna can now sleep in peace!”

When asked whether she knows or recognizes the suspect, Lizbeth’s mother, Jacqueline Medina, told Fox News Digital, “Not at all.” She is waiting for more information from police.

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Lizbeth’s murder came as a shock to the Edna community last week as authorities hunted the teenager’s suspected killer

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Jacqueline Medina told Fox News Digital last week that she came home on Tuesday evening to find Lizbeth dead in the bathtub of their residence at the Cottonwood Apartments after she had not seen or heard from the 16-year-old that afternoon.

“I decided to go look for her. And I kept calling her phone nonstop, and it would take me straight to voicemail… I called a bunch of people and nobody knew anything. It wasn’t until I walked into the restroom that I was on the phone with my friend asking him to come help me look for her – is when I [saw] her foot, and it was in the bathtub. And so I opened the curtains. There she was,” Medina said.

Medina left for work around 6 a.m. on Tuesday. She said she woke her daughter up before she left because she had to get ready for cheer practice. The last anyone heard from Lizbeth was around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, Medina said. After that, friends and family assumed her phone must have died. 

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The Monday prior, Lizbeth had been sick from school, so friends did not find it unusual that she did not show up to school again on Tuesday.

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Medina finished work on Tuesday afternoon to attend a Christmas parade that Lizbeth was supposed to be in. But she did not see her daughter at the parade and began asking friends and family to help locate her. That is when she returned to her apartment and found Lizbeth dead in their bathtub. 

“I don’t understand why. My God, why would they do this to her?” Medina said. “She’s such a beautiful, smart, and amazing girl. There’s moments where I just can’t take it. And then there’s moments where I feel like I need to be strong for her.”

She and her daughter were living in the apartment complex temporarily after Medina moved from Nebraska to Texas for her job in renewable energy. She and Lizbeth were the only two people who had keys to the apartment, she said.

Romero was arrested a day after Edna police shared security camera footage of a person of interest in the case.

Medina previously described her daughter as “an amazing, good girl.” She was “very mature” and cared deeply for her friends and family. 

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“I just want everybody to know that that was an amazing child,” Medina said. “She wasn’t a normal teenager getting in trouble for doing crazy stuff. She was very mature for her age. She was a caring and loving person who, as far as I know and from the messages I received, she changed a lot of people’s lives. I just want everybody to remember her that way and not the way that she was taken from me.” 

The Medina family has created a GoFundMe for their efforts to find Liz’s suspected killer titled “Justice for Lizbeth Medina.”