The aunt of murdered Texas high school cheerleader Lizbeth Medina said the family had never heard of the undocumented immigrant who is accused of stabbing the teen — and are also searching for answers about why he may have committed the slaying.
Rafael Romero, a 23-year-old undocumented immigrant living in Texas on an expired visa, had no previous encounters with the family before the deadly stabbing, the victim’s aunt Ana Medina told The Messenger.
“We don’t know who that is,” Medina said. “We don’t know anything about that person. Nobody knows.”
“He’s no one we know. That’s the worst part,” the woman added. “We don’t know why, why, why. We don’t have a why yet.”
Romero was apprehended this weekend and charged with one count of capital murder — but police still have not revealed a motive for the attack.
The aunt, nevertheless, applauded Romero’s speedy arrest, saying she was relieved that he will not be able to harm anyone else.
“I’m just glad justice has been served and my niece is at peace,” she said. “He won’t be doing this to anybody else. That person is in jail where he’s supposed to be.”
On Dec. 5, Lizbeth Medina, a 16-year-old student at Edna High School, was found dead in the bathtub at her family’s apartment by her mother, Jacqueline Medina, who went looking for her after the girl had missed the Christmas parade, where she was supposed to march with the rest of her cheer squad.
“I decided to go look for her. And I kept calling her phone nonstop, and it would take me straight to voicemail,” the anguished mom previously told Fox News Digital.
“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 recounted.
Edna Police Chief Rick Boone revealed Monday that the teen had been stabbed to death.
The teen’s violent killing sent shockwaves through Edna — a small city of 5,500 people located about 100 miles southwest of Houston.
On Saturday, local police and Texas Rangers acting on a tip arrested Romero at his family’s home in the town of Schulenburg. They also seized items from his silver Ford Taurus they said connected him to the murder.
Romero has been in the US illegally after overstaying his visa, Chief Boone said. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed a detainer on the suspect because of his undocumented status, police said.
Romero’s bond has been set by a magistrate at $2 million.