HOUSTON – A 25-year-old man has been arrested and charged with murder after he allegedly ran over his wife with a Dodge Durango early Sunday morning on Bellerive Drive in southwest Houston.
Rudolfo Pinon III, 25, is charged with murder and is currently in custody. Harris County prosecutors have filed paperwork indicating they will ask a judge to hold Pinon without bond.
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The victim has been identified in court records as his wife, Galilea Adan.
Before the incident, Pinon picked up another man and woman at their apartment and they all stopped at a gas station to pick up four “buzz ball” drinks, according to court records.
Pinon and the man each drank two of them, according to records, while they drove back to Pinon’s apartment to pick up a different car.
Adan then joined them and they all went to the Cowboys Red River club on Bellaire Boulevard, arriving around midnight, according to the witnesses.
At the club, they continued drinking after Pinon bought large bottles of Casamigos and Grey Goose alcohol and allegedly became heavily intoxicated.
After being told he couldn’t buy more alcohol, the witnesses told police security had to get involved and the group got kicked out, records state.
The man with the couple told police he tried to “make peace” with club security as they all left, but that “enraged” Pinon, who told him, “You’re not ready for my lifestyle.”
Adan drove the vehicle as the designated driver as the men continued arguing, according to court records.
Eventually, when the car came to a stop, Adan got out of the car because Pinon was “doing too much,” according to records, and everyone in the car wasn’t happy with how he was acting.
The man and woman with the couple, who witnessed the whole evening, also got out of the car and started to walk away, according to records, but the woman then noticed Pinon get into the driver’s seat and hit the accelerator, running over Adan in the middle of the street.
Pinon then continued driving toward the man and woman, she told police, so she pushed the man to the side while worried he may have been hit, too.
The woman told police she didn’t know if Pinon tried to hit Adan on purpose, but that he didn’t acknowledge running her over.
Pinon then drove off, and police said they later found the gray SUV unoccupied a few miles from the scene.
He was arrested Monday afternoon on a failure to stop and render aid charge, according to court records, but as the investigation continued, prosecutors filed a murder charge against Pinon on Tuesday.
While prosecutors plan to ask a judge to hold him without bond under the voter-approved Proposition 3, allowing judges to deny bail for certain violent offenses, a hearing on the matter has not yet been scheduled.
Pinon remains in the Harris County Jail.