The capital murder suspect arrested in the 2012 Arlington cold case killing of Irasema Chavez has been released from jail with community supervision after she posted bail.
Mayra Velasquez was released from the Tarrant County Jail on Wednesday morning. Court records show Judge Ryan Hill set her bail at $450,000 on Tuesday.
Conditions of her bond include GPS monitoring and no travel outside Tarrant and Dallas counties without permission.
Velasquez, a 42-year-old real estate agent, is accused of stabbing Chavez more than 100 times the night of Jan. 19, 2012, in the victim’s second-floor apartment on South Cooper Street.
Arlington police say DNA from a drop of fresh blood left on a TV stand in Chavez’s bedroom helped link Velasquez to the crime, but Velasquez’s attorneys dispute the findings.
“Mayra Velasquez is innocent,” her lawyers said in a July 22 news release. “She has been falsely accused while the victim’s real killer remains unidentified.”
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 charged with capital murder in the 2012 stabbing of Irasema Chavez. Elvis Martinez-Cartagena FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
The attorneys question how a drop of blood could be described as “fresh” if it was left nearly 10 hours before Chavez’s body was found the next morning. They also say it’s not surprising that Velasquez’s DNA was found in the apartment, considering the two women were friends.
“DNA alone does not prove who committed a murder,” the release states.
The attorneys also believe the person seen in a surveillance video outside Chavez’s apartment the night of the murder “appears to be a man.”
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
Police have said they believe the person shown on the surveillance video, who was wearing an oversized hooded sweatshirt, was Velasquez.
Homicide Detective Tracey Dixon said at a July 22 news conference that Velasquez provided information during an interview that investigators believe will be helpful in prosecuting the case, but she didn’t reveal what the information was. Dixon said she’s confident they have the right person in custody.
A district judge issued an order on July 20 denying Velasquez bail. Two days later the defendant’s attorneys filed an application asking the court to vacate the judge’s order and grant the defendant a “reasonable amount” of bail.
“She is not a flight risk because she is adamantly innocent and determined to clear her good name,” the application states.
Police have said the motive for the killing remains unclear. In a formal complaint filed Monday charging Velasquez with capital murder, Tarrant County prosecutors said the “defendant was in the course of committing or attempting to commit the offense of robbery.”
Investigators have said the killer stole a TV that Chavez used to watch video from her surveillance camera. The killer unplugged the recording device but left the device behind, police said, and they recovered the footage of the suspect arriving.
This story was originally published July 29, 2026 at 10:28 AM.
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Harriet Ramos covers crime and other breaking news for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.