HOUSTON – A Houston man has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Maria Jimenez-Rodriguez, a northeast Houston mother who disappeared in June 2018 and whose body has never been found.
Erik Fardell Arceneaux was sentenced August 6, 2026, about a month after a Harris County jury convicted him of murder following less than three hours of deliberation.
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The case, built entirely on digital evidence, was described by prosecutors as one of the most challenging homicide trials in recent memory.
“Over the course of the last month and a half in trial, we really were able to show how despicable this individual’s actions were,” said Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare. “Today really, I thought, brought that home, being able to convey how much Maria’s missed by so many.”
Eight-year wait for justice
Jimenez-Rodriguez, 29, was reported missing June 21, 2018, after dropping off her young daughter at a babysitter’s home at the 6900 block of Texarkana Street in East Houston and never showing up for work. She was a paralegal who texted a co-worker that morning — first saying she would be late, then saying she was turning back to pick up her daughter. A final text said someone was following her. Her abandoned vehicle was found the next day, about three miles from where she was last seen. Her purse and cellphone were missing.
For nearly eight years, her sister Gloria Jimenez fought publicly for answers — and accountability. Jimenez also became the primary caregiver for Jimenez-Rodriguez’s daughter, Destiny.
“I’ve been asking for justice for all these years. I didn’t get it till today,” Jimenez said after the verdict.
She said the long road to justice took a heavy toll on the entire family.
“Destiny has grown up eight years of her life without her mother. It’s hard,” Jimenez said.
Digital evidence cracked the case
With no body and no medical examiner’s testimony to rely on, prosecutors built their case around a trail of digital evidence. Cellphone records showed Arceneaux’s phone and Jimenez-Rodriguez’s phone traveling together after she disappeared. Surveillance video and purchase records 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 is a model for 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.
Teare acknowledged the steep challenge of prosecuting a case without remains.
“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.”
Arrest, denied bond, road to trial
Arceneaux was taken into custody in January 2025 by members of the U.S. Marshals’ Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force outside a business on the 9500 block of Rowlett Road near the Gulf Freeway in Houston. A judge initially set his bond at $250,000, but it was later denied by Judge Kelli Johnson of the 178th District Court.
Crime victim advocate April Aguirre praised Johnson’s decision.
“He is a danger to the community and he deserves to be in jail,” Aguirre said.
Aguirre also raised concerns about what could have happened without the public attention the case received.
“What if this case didn’t have this much public interest?” Aguirre asked. “This individual could have came up with $25,000. That’s what a Nissan Altima is worth. And he could have been out again for another four or five years.”
Jimenez said she always believed Arceneaux was still in Houston, even when rumors suggested otherwise.
“There were rumors that he might have been deceased, but I never believed any of that. I knew he was out there. My heart said that he was still out there,” she said.
A verdict, but not complete closure
While the life sentence brings a measure of justice, Jimenez-Rodriguez’s remains have never been found. Prosecutors alleged Arceneaux dismembered her with a chainsaw and disposed of her body. Jimenez said she still hopes Arceneaux will tell the family where her sister is.
“It’s been five years of you making me go through all this torture and not having my sister and her daughter not having a mother. I think it’s time that you touch your heart if you have one and tell me where Maria is at,” Jimenez said.
Despite the pain, Jimenez said the verdict was a victory.
“This is the victory,” she said. “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 also offered words of encouragement to other families navigating similar heartbreak.
“Keep faith, keep on going, believe in the God that you have, that you will get closure. They will get captured and you will get justice,” she said.