LAREDO, Texas — A suspect has been identified nearly 10 years after the death of a 33-year-old mother from Laredo, Texas.
According to the Texas Rangers and Laredo Police Department, 42-year-old Sergio Mendez was indicted this month in connection to the death of Janette Escamilla Jaramillo.
The Texas mother’s body was found on May 18, 2016, under a skate ramp at Seven Flags Park in Laredo, several hours after she was supposed to return home from work.
Upon further investigation, security footage showed Jamarillo with a suspect who appeared to wear a trash bag, as it was raining that night. The suspect was tall and had a cropped haircut, and the two were seen together roughly a half hour after Jamarillo left work at around midnight.
Following Jamarillo’s death, it appeared the mother of nine was strangled after a sexual assault attempt, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). No arrests were made at the time of her death.
Several years later, in 2021, advanced DNA testing was approved by DPS through the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, which helps solve sexual assaults and related homicides across the U.S.
The testing found a connection to Mendez, who was indicted on March 12 of this year in Webb County, Texas.
Mendez is currently in custody in Edinburg, Texas, where he is serving 10 years in prison for a separate crime.