Arlington police and the FBI’s Dallas Field Office will hold a news conference about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday to answer questions about their joint investigation that led to an arrest in the 2012 cold-case killing of Irasema Chavez, who was stabbed over 100 times.
Police Chief Al Jones and FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock will speak at the news conference.
Watch live video here.
In November 2024, the FBI agreed to help the Arlington police Homicide Unit through the federal agency’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy program, and that collaboration led to the break in the case, authorities have said.
Mayra Velasquez, a 42-year-old real estate agent, was arrested July 16 on suspicion of capital murder in the stabbing of Irasema Chavez. Surveillance video showed that the victim let a person disguised by a baggy hoodie into her Arlington apartment, and detectives believed she knew her killer.
Irasema Chavez was found fatally stabbed inside her Arlington apartment in January 2012. Star-Telegram photo illustration/Photographer Dan Gutier, Family photos and Arlington Police Department
At the time of the killing, detectives noted a spot of wet blood on a television stand in Chavez’s bedroom, according to the arrest warrant affidavit. The affidavit details how detectives used DNA to connect Velasquez to the case.
The blood on the TV stand, like other blood in the apartment, was collected on a swab and sent to a crime lab for DNA identification, detectives wrote. Tests revealed that while the spot of blood belonged to a Hispanic female, it did not match the DNA profile of Chavez. Detectives believe that the killer cut herself during the attack.
No matches for the sample were found in a police DNA index between 2012 and 2024, according to the affidavit.
In December 2024, Arlington police worked with the FBI to retest the sample and were able to identify a relative of Velasquez’s, confirmed through further research of family lineage, detectives wrote. A later review of Chavez’s phone records found that she and Velasquez were close friends.
Arlington police arrested Mayra Velasquez on July 16, 2026, on suspicion of capital murder. Tarrant County Jail
Detectives received a tip close to the beginning of the investigation that Velasquez’s husband may have been jealous of the women’s close relationship, but the couple did not respond to a request to speak with detectives at that time, according to the affidavit.
In May of this year, undercover detectives observed Velasquez eating dinner with two plastic forks at a restaurant, according to the affidavit. When she left the restaurant, she left behind the used forks, a plate and a cup on the table where she had been sitting.
DNA testing on the fork revealed a profile that matched the one from the blood found on Chavez’s bedroom TV stand, detectives wrote. The killer stole one TV from the apartment but left behind a recording device, allowing police to recover the video of the hooded suspect arriving, police have said. Investigators believe that the suspect turned off the video feed that showed the outside view of the front door about 10 minutes after arriving at the apartment in the 2700 block of South Collins Street.
Police also found bloody shoeprints throughout the apartment that, based on their size, were believed to belong to a woman, according to the affidavit.
Velasquez faces a capital murder charge because the killing was committed during the course of a robbery or attempted robbery, police wrote in the affidavit.
This story was originally published July 22, 2026 at 10:30 AM.
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Harriet Ramos covers crime and other breaking news for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.