Greg Abbott offered $50,000 in reward money as the search dragged late into the weekend.įBI spokesperson Connor Hagan said the three agencies that went in to arrest Oropeza were the U.S. As recently as Tuesday morning, the FBI said that Oropeza “could be anywhere,” underlining how investigators for days struggled to get a sense of his whereabouts and candidly acknowledged they had no leads.ĭrones and scent-tracking dogs were used during a widening search that included combing a heavily wooded forest a few miles from the scene.

The arrest happened near Conroe, ending what had become a widening dragnet that had grown to more than 250 people from multiple jurisdictions.

“He will live out his life behind bars for killing those five.” “They can rest easy now, because he is behind bars,” Capers said of the families of the victims. Prosecutor Eric Smith, however, said she could be retried on voluntary manslaughter heat of passion because it contains different elements than the imperfect self-defense charge.CLEVELAND, Texas (AP) - A four-day manhunt in Texas for a gunman accused of killing five neighbors ended Tuesday not far from the site of the shooting when authorities, acting on a tip, said they found the suspect hiding underneath a pile of laundry in the closet of a house.įrancisco Oropeza, 38, was captured without incident near Houston and about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from his home in the rural town of Cleveland, where authorities say he went next door and shot his neighbors with an AR-style rifle after some of them had asked him to stop firing rounds in his yard because it was keeping a baby awake. Howard attorney Tony Lidgett had argued an acquittal on one theory of voluntary manslaughter counts as an acquittal of the charge as a whole. The jury found her not guilty of first-degree murder and the lesser included offenses of second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter imperfect self-defense and involuntary manslaughter.īut jurors deadlocked 7-5 for guilt on a second theory of voluntary manslaughter - voluntary manslaughter heat of passion - that was also filed as a lesser included offense. Howard was acquitted last year of murder in the death of Kelly Rees Pitts, a former boyfriend who molested the teen daughter they had in common. Under the plea, Howard maintained her innocence but acknowledged prosecutors had enough evidence to find her guilty. Last month, Howard entered an Alford plea to a charge of voluntary manslaughter for a sentence of time served and one year of probation. (KGET) - Wendy Howard, the Tehachapi woman who fatally shot an ex-boyfriend in 2019, was sentenced to time served and one year of probation on Thursday.

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