8-Year-Old Boy Finds Pregnant Mom Beaten to Death, and Boyfriend Suspect Is at Large
Facebook Ashley Garcia
An 8-year-old boy awoke to find his mother dead in bed beside him after witnessing her alleged beating by her boyfriend. The man allegedly then told the boy not to wake her as he left.
Houston police say the boyfriend, 23-year-old Alexis Armando Rojas-Mendez, fled before that discovery and now is wanted on a charge of murder, reports KHOU, KTRK and the Houston Chronicle.
The victim, 27-year-old Ashley M. Garcia, was declared deceased at the scene.
Her family said the mother of three was seven weeks pregnant with another child at the time.
Houston Police Department Alexis Armando Rojas Mendez
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The couple's 8-year-old son told police he saw Rojas-Mendez allegedly beating Garcia with his steel-toe work boots on Friday night, according to court documents obtained by KHOU.
The next morning, after the boy summoned neighbors in an effort to help rouse Garcia, investigators who arrived found blood-spattered walls and floors, and discovered the victim with blunt force trauma to her head and body, according to those documents.
Investigators said Garcia had been dead for several hours.
Authorities who identified Rojas-Mendez as a suspect allege he contacted his sisters after the alleged attack to borrow money for an "out-of-town job." According to the court documents obtained by KHOU, they said he sounded "stressed out," but they did not offer any financial help.
Anyone with knowledge of Rojas-Mendez's whereabouts or the incident is asked to call police at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
