HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) – For 10 days in July 2018, a released Texas inmate terrorized the city of Houston.
José Gilberto Rodriguez’s wave of violence exposed cracks in the criminal justice system, devastated families, and launched a manhunt that became a race against time.
“We started to realize that the bodies were piling up in a very rapid period of time,” recalled Samantha Knecht, a prosecutor in the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. “We had to find the guy because we knew he wouldn’t stop.”
The first victim, 62-year-old Pamela Johnson, was discovered in her Cypress home by her siblings. Then two more murders occurred, with employees working alone at two separate mattress stores.
“Once he realized that working with one worker was an easier target, he repeated the same thing,” Houston Police Department Sgt. John Strobel explained.
Investigators will soon discover more violent crimes.
“This man appears to have lost his mind in about four days,” said David Crane, a homicide detective with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
In the latest episode of ABC13 Texas True Crime, Jessica Willey interviews victims’ families and takes viewers inside the investigation with never-before-seen video. Watch how the search for Rodriguez came to a dramatic end and how his rampage led to increased parole oversight.
“I can’t believe someone could take that many lives and still be breathing,” said Peggy Buss, Johnson’s sister. “He’s got a dead soul.”
Watch Texas True Crime: The Mattress Murders wherever you stream ABC13.
Watch Texas True Crime on your favorite streaming devices, like Roku, FireTV, AppleTV, and GoogleTV. Just search “ABC13 Houston”.
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