Arlington police have arrested a 42-year-old real estate agent in the 2012 stabbing death of Irasema Chavez, whose body was found with more than 100 stab wounds in her apartment. Investigators say advanced genetic genealogy and a DNA sample lifted from a used fork finally led them to a suspect who was one of the victim’s close friends.
Here are key takeaways:
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 A single drop of fresh blood on a bedroom TV stand — belonging to a Hispanic female but not Chavez — became the strongest lead, and detectives believe the killer cut herself during the attack, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.The DNA profile was uploaded to CODIS but yielded no matches between 2012 and 2024, prompting Arlington police to ask the FBI’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy Team to review the case in November 2024, where the FBI’s program provided a significant break earlier this year.In May, undercover detectives watched Velasquez eat dinner with two plastic forks at a restaurant and collected the utensils she left behind — DNA from the fork matched the blood on the TV stand, detectives wrote in the affidavit. 
A picture of Mayra Velasquez is shown during a news conference at the Arlington Police Headquarters on July 22, 2026. Velasquez has been arrested and faces a capital murder charge in the 2012 stabbing of Irasema Chavez. Elvis Martinez-Cartagena FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM Surveillance video from Jan. 19, 2012, showed a person in a baseball cap and oversized hoodie knocking on Chavez’s door at 10:36 p.m. and being let in, with the recording device apparently unplugged about 10 minutes later, leading detectives to believe Chavez knew her killer.Detectives received an early tip that Velasquez’s husband may have been jealous of the women’s close friendship, but the couple did not respond to requests to speak with investigators at the time, and the motive remains unclear, police said.Velasquez’s defense team at Sellers Law Firm says she is innocent, arguing her DNA was in the apartment because she visited her friend often and that the person in the surveillance video “appears to be a man.” They have asked the court to grant bail.The FBI has used investigative genetic genealogy to help solve roughly 250 cases across the United States since 2018, FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock said.
The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.
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