HOUSTON – Nearly eight years after Houston mother Maria Rodriguez disappeared without a trace, a Harris County jury found her then-boyfriend Erik Arceneaux guilty of murdering her.
On Thursday, jurors found Arceneaux guilty of murder after less than three hours of deliberation, bringing an end to a case prosecutors described as one of the most challenging homicide trials because there were no human remains.
Rodriguez, 29, was reported missing in June 2018 after she dropped off her young daughter at a babysitter’s home in northeast Houston and never showed up for work.
“This is the victory,” Rodriguez’s sister, Gloria Jimenez, said after the verdict. “It’s not bringing back Maria, but it is putting a person in jail that knew what he did. He took a soul, a good person from this world. I just need him to pay for what he did, and today we got justice.”
Jimenez said her family has spent years waiting for accountability.
“I’ve been asking for justice for all these years. I didn’t get it till today,” she said.
Prosecutors: Digital evidence solved the case
According to court records and testimony presented during trial, investigators found Rodriguez’s abandoned vehicle about three miles from the babysitter’s home.
Prosecutors said cellphone records showed Arceneaux’s phone and Rodriguez’s phone traveling together after she disappeared. Surveillance video and purchase records also showed Arceneaux buying a chainsaw and contractor trash bags from a Home Depot, evidence prosecutors argued was critical to proving their case.
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, who personally prosecuted the case, said the investigation demonstrates how digital evidence can solve homicide cases even when a victim’s body is never recovered.
“This case exclusively was solved by the digital evidence,” Teare said.
He acknowledged that homicide cases without remains are among the most difficult to prosecute.
“When you have no remains, we don’t have a medical examiner who can tell you what the cause of death is,” Teare said. “We can’t pinpoint a time of death. We can’t pinpoint even a location sometimes.”
Still, Teare said investigators were able to piece together the case through cellphone data, surveillance video and other evidence collected during the investigation.
Family still searching for closure
While Thursday’s verdict brought a measure of justice, it did not bring complete closure for Rodriguez’s family.
Prosecutors alleged Arceneaux dismembered Rodriguez with a chainsaw and disposed of her body. Her remains have never been found.
“It’s been hard for the family,” Jimenez said. “Destiny has grown up eight years of her life without her mother. It’s hard.”
Arceneaux is expected to return to court Monday for the punishment phase of the trial, when the same jury will determine his sentence. The worst possible punishment is life in prison without the possibility of parole.