A 66-year-old man has been arrested for the murder of a pregnant woman 20 years after her body was found in a Texas graveyard, authorities announced.
Valerie Laguna, 26, was nine months pregnant at the time of her death in 2005, the La Salle County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. She was last seen at a private residence in the early morning hours on July 19, the Texas Department of Public Safety said. Later that day, her body was found at the Cristo Rey Cemetery in Cotulla, Texas. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.
The case went cold but remained a priority for the county over the years, the sheriff’s office said, with multiple administrations engaging in “tireless work” and department leaders refusing “to let the case go cold.” In 2018, the Texas Department of Public Safety announced a reward of up to $6,000 for information leading to an arrest.
Valerie Laguna.
Texas Department of Public Safety
The sheriff’s office did not provide many details of the investigation, citing pending prosecution, but said “advanced forensic investigators” allowed officials to link a suspect to the crime. The Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Lab, the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification, and the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office all contributed to the investigation, the sheriff’s office said.
The suspect, identified as Saul Gonzalez, was arrested without incident in Cotulla, Texas, the sheriff’s office said. He was indicted by a La Salle County grand jury on Friday, and has been charged with capital murder. Gonzalez is being held on a $1 million bond, the sheriff’s office said.
“For twenty years, this community has carried the memory of a terrible loss,” said Sheriff Hector Ramirez in a statement. “This arrest represents a significant step toward justice. More importantly, it represents a moment for healing—for the victim’s family, who have waited so long, and for a community that has never forgotten.”
“This case has always been about more than just solving a crime,” Ramirez said. “It has been about giving a voice to the victim, honoring her memory, and providing hope to her family. We know that nothing can erase the pain of the past, but we pray that this step forward brings comfort as we now move into the prosecution phase.”
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