The rapes and murders of Jennifer Lee Ertman and Elizabeth Christine Peña, two teenage girls from

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, aged 14 and 16, respectively, occurred on June 24, 1993. The murder of the two girls made

headline The headline or heading is the text indicating the content or nature of the article below it, typically by providing a form of brief summary of its contents. The large type ''front page headline'' did not come into use until the late 19th centur ...

s in Texas newspapers due to the nature of the crime and the new law resulting from the murder that allows families of the victims to view the execution of the murderers. The case was also notable in that the state of Texas rejected attempts by the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

to halt several perpetrators' executions.

Peña and Ertman

Elizabeth Christine Peña (June 21, 1977 – June 24, 1993) and Jennifer Lee Ertman (August 15, 1978 – June 24, 1993) were close friends who both attended

Waltrip High School Stephen Pool Waltrip High School is a public high school located at 1900 West 34th Street in Houston, Texas, United States, 77018. Waltrip, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Houston Independent School District. Waltrip has Hou ...

. Although the girls were just over one year in age difference, both sets of parents approved of their friendship, with Peña's father viewing Ertman—a modest girl who had only recently begun experimenting with makeup—as a "positive influence" on his daughter, later recollecting that, shortly after the two became friends at Waltrip High School, Peña "just straightened up her act" following a brief streak of teenage rebellion in his daughter before her 1992 enrollment at the school.

June 24, 1993

At 4:15 p.m. on June 24, 1993, Ertman's father, Randy, drove his only daughter to Peña's home. At approximately 8 p.m., Peña's mother, Melissa, drove the two girls to the home of their friend, Gina Escamilla, who lived in the Spring Hill Apartments and who was hosting a pool party for her school friends. As both girls exited the car, Peña assured her mother she and her friend would be home by their agreed 11:30 p.m.

curfew A curfew is a government order specifying a time during which certain regulations apply. Typically, curfews order all people affected by them to ''not'' be in public places or on roads within a certain time frame, typically in the evening and ...

. When the pair realized they were going to be late returning home, they decided to leave the party to conform to the curfew both had promised their parents. Ertman and Peña decided to take a 10-minute shortcut to Peña's residence in Oak Forest by following the railroad tracks and passing through T.C. Jester Park.Turner, Allan
"Medellin set to die Tuesday for Ertman-Peña killings"
''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

''. August 4, 2008; retrieved March 6, 2010. This location was approximately one mile from Peña's home.

Gang initiation

The girls were walking along the

White Oak Bayou White Oak Bayou is a slow-moving river in Houston, Texas. A major tributary of the city's principal waterway, Buffalo Bayou, White Oak originates near the intersection of Texas State Highway 6 and U.S. Highway 290 (the Northwest Freeway) and mea ...

when they encountered six "Black and White"

gang members A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...

drinking beer shortly after holding the

gang initiation Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformation ...

ceremony of 17-year-old Raul Omar Villarreal.Graczyk, Michael. ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

'' at ''MySanAntonio.com'', July 10, 2006; retrieved June 26, 2009. Villarreal had not been a member of the Black and White gang or any gang but had engaged in this initiation ceremony whereby he had been forced to fight several gang members for five minutes successively before they judged whether to accept him. By approximately 10:30 p.m., Villarreal had successfully fought two gang members before being beaten midway through his fight with the third member. As he lay writhing and moaning on the ground after being temporarily knocked

unconscious Unconscious may refer to: Physiology * Unconsciousness, the lack of consciousness or responsiveness to people and other environmental stimuli Psychology * Unconscious mind, the mind operating well outside the attention of the conscious mind a ...

, the gang members conferred privately to discuss whether to accept Villarreal as a member. Minutes later, the leader of the gang, Peter Cantu, approached Villarreal, exclaiming: "You're in! Dude, you're a badass! You're welcome to hang with us anytime!" Villarreal then sat alongside the other gang members, relaxing, talking, trading insults and compliments, and drinking beer. Shortly thereafter, he held a beer aloft, proclaiming things were to be great.

Abduction and assault

Within approximately 40 minutes of Villarreal accepting several bottles of beer from the other gang members and holding his first beer aloft, Ertman and Peña passed the gang. One member, José Medellín, attempted to grope and pinch one of Peña's breasts. Peña brushed aside Medellín's hand and continued walking. In response, Medellín stated: "No, baby! Where reyou going?" He then clasped his arm around Peña's neck, threw her to the ground, and dragged her down a gravel decline in the direction of the other gang members as Peña screamed and pleaded for help. She was then forced to remove her underwear. Ertman could've easily run to escape at this point but ran to help her friend. She was thrown to the ground by gang members Peter Cantu and Derrick Sean O'Brien. Five of the gang members proceeded to rape both girls for more than an hour repeatedly. Both girls were sexually assaulted by all but one of the gang members, 14-year-old Venancio "Yuni" Medellín, on a minimum of four occasions. According to trial testimony, both Peña and Ertman repeatedly glanced in the direction of one another several times throughout their ordeal in likely gestures of concern and despair. Both repeatedly struggled against their abusers, with Peña on at least one occasion attempting to fight off her attackers by repeatedly kicking her legs, and Ertman biting her attackers. According to later testimony, on one occasion, Peña glanced in the direction of her younger friend as she was raped by Efrain Pérez and began weeping as she observed Ertman.

Murders

Realizing that the girls would be capable of identifying them, Cantu ordered the members to kill the girls. He told Venancio Medellín to stay behind because he was “too little to watch.” The other gang members forced the girls into a wooded area. Both girls were strangled to death. Following Cantu's initial instruction, Villarreal first shouted, "Get on your knees, bitch!" to Ertman. O'Brien (the only non-Hispanic, Black person in the gang) and Villarreal strangled Ertman with O'Brien's red nylon belt before breaking the belt. Both completed the act by strangling the girl with a shoelace in Peña's presence. As Ertman was murdered, Peña was forced to watch her friend's death as other gang members held a ligature around her neck. At first, Peña desperately attempted to appease her abusers as she wept, offering her phone number so they could "get together". She then attempted to flee. In response, Cantu tackled and repeatedly kicked the girl in her face and body, dislodging three teeth and

fracturing Fracture is the separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacement discontinuity surfaces within the solid. If a displa ...

several ribs. Cantu, José Medellín, and Pérez then strangled Peña to death with shoelaces. The gang members stomped on both girls' throats to ensure their deaths. Leaving the crime scene, Cantu handed Venancio Medellín a Goofy wristwatch taken from Ertman's body, saying, "Take this, I don't want it." Cantu dropped off José Medellín, Pérez, and Villarreal at his residence, where he lived with his brother, Joe Cantu, and sister-in-law, Christina Cantu. Christina Cantu questioned why Villarreal was bleeding, and Pérez had a bloody shirt. This prompted Medellín to say the gang "had fun" and that details would appear on the news. He then elaborated that he had raped both girls. Peter Cantu then returned and divided the valuables that had been stolen from the girls. José Medellín got a ring with an "E," so he could give it to his girlfriend, Esther. Medellín reported that he had killed a girl and noted that he would have found it easier with a gun. O'Brien was videotaped smiling at the scene of the crime. After the gang left, Christina Cantu convinced Joe Cantu to report the crime to the police.

Discovery

Four days after the murders, the girls' bodies were found in the park during hot weather conditions. Both bodies had significantly decomposed, and dental records were used for identification. The medical examiner corroborated that the cause of death was strangulation. All those believed responsible were ultimately arrested. Medellín gave both written and taped confessions.

Sentencing and incarceration

At sentencing, the offenders were remanded to the

Texas Department of Criminal Justice The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails ...

(TDCJ) system. Peter Anthony Cantu, José Ernesto Medellín, Derrick Sean O'Brien, Efrain Pérez, and Raul Omar Villarreal received

death sentences Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

. Venancio Medellín, the brother of José Medellín, testified against 4 of the gang members. He received a 40-year prison sentence, the maximum for a juvenile, for the sexual assault of Jennifer Ertman. When the Supreme Court of the United States banned the executions of people who committed crimes while they were below 18 years of age, the sentences of Pérez and Villarreal were automatically commuted to life in prison. Pérez will become eligible for parole on October 10, 2029, while Villarreal will become eligible for parole on September 20, 2029. Cantu, O'Brien, and José Medellín were later implicated in the January 4, 1993, murder of 27-year-old Patricia Lopez. Although none of them were charged (Cantu had already been sentenced to death by the time he was linked to Lopez's murder), Lopez's murder was mentioned in the sentencing phases of O'Brien and Medellín.

Executions

Derrick Sean O'Brien was the first to be executed, on July 11, 2006.Ross, Robyn
Laid to Rest in HuntsvilleArchive
''

Texas Observer ''The Texas Observer'' (also known as the ''Observer'') is an American magazine with a liberal political outlook. The ''Observer'' is published bimonthly by a 501(c)(3)cruel and unusual form of punishment, Peña's father later remarked O'Brien's death had occurred peacefully, "in twenty seconds", adding: "I wish to God that my daughter could have died that easily. Put a needle in her arm and just go to sleep. I wish to hell he could have died the way she died." José Ernesto Medellín appealed his execution, saying that he had informed City of Houston and Harris County police officers that he was a Mexican citizen and that he had been unable to confer with Mexican consular officials. The prosecutors said that Medellín never told authorities he was a Mexican citizen. Medellín said in a sworn statement that he learned that the Mexican consulate could assist him in 1997. He petitioned the

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) is the court of last resort for all criminal matters in Texas. The Court, which is based in the Supreme Court Building in Downtown Austin, is composed of a Presiding Judge and eight judges. Article V of ...

in 1998 regarding this issue; the appeal failed. PolunskyUnitWestLivingstonTX

Medellín's impending execution became an international controversy since the state did not hold a hearing about whether the inability of Medellín to meet with Mexican consular officials harmed his defense. The right of a defendant to talk with his or her consulate is specified in the

Vienna Convention on Consular Relations en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

; the United States is a party to the convention, although the U.S. withdrew from compulsory jurisdiction in 1986 to accept the court's jurisdiction only on a case-by-case basis. In 2004, the

responded to a lawsuit filed by Mexico against the United States; the court ordered hearings to be held for inmates, including Medellín, who were denied consular rights. In 2005, President George W. Bush ordered hearings to be held. The State of Texas, represented by Solicitor General

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...

, challenged Bush's order, and the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that only the

Congress of the United States The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Wash ...

has the right to order hearings to be held. In July, the World Court ordered a stay of Medellín's execution.

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Rick Perry argued that Texas is not bound to World Court rulings. Death penalty opponents protested the impending execution. The families of both Ertman and Peña strongly favored the execution(s). HuntsvilleUnitHuntsvilleTX

José Medellín was executed at 9:57 p.m. on August 5, 2008, after his last-minute appeals were rejected by the Supreme Court. Governor Perry rejected calls from Mexico and Washington, DC, to delay the execution, citing the torture, rape, and strangulation of two teenaged girls in Houston 15 years ago as just cause for the death penalty. During his lifetime, Randy Ertman advocated strongly against granting parole to Venancio Medellín. Seventeen years after the crimes, Peter Anthony Cantu was executed on August 17, 2010. The lethal injection was performed at 6:09 p.m., and at 6:17 p.m., Cantu was officially pronounced dead. Cantu, Medellín, and O'Brien are buried at

Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery The Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery is the main prison cemetery of the U.S. state of Texas, located in Huntsville and operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). The colloquial name for the cemetery is Peckerwood Hill. The name originat ...

.obrienderrick.jpg

Archive
). Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved on January 27, 2012.

Aftermath

The parents of the murder victims successfully advocated for the State of Texas to allow victims' relatives to have permission to witness executions. Before the murders, Houston officials had stated that gangs were not a significant issue in the city. C.E. Anderson, a

Houston Police Department The Houston Police Department (HPD) is the primary law enforcement agency serving the City of Houston, Texas, United States and some surrounding areas. With approximately 5,300 officers and 1,200 civilian support personnel it is the fifth-largest ...

officer who worked on the murder case, described the murder as "part of the impetus for the antigang programs in Houston." Jennifer Latson of the ''

'' said that the deaths of the girls "shook" the Oak Forest neighborhood of Houston "to its foundation."Latson, Jennifer
Somber tribute held to the teen victims"
''

'', August 6, 2008; retrieved March 7, 2010. Randy Ertman, the father of Jennifer Ertman, died of lung cancer on August 18, 2014. Ertman had wanted to have Andy Kahan, the City of Houston's crime advocate, to witness the execution of Medellín. TDCJ refused to permit Kahan to witness the execution. The Texas parole board denied parole on several occasions to Venancio Medellin, most recently in 2020. Medellin is scheduled to be released in 2034.

has a memorial to the girls.In Memory of Elizabeth Peña and Jennifer Ertman - 1993
" Waltrip High School; retrieved March 6, 2010. Another memorial exists at T.C. Jester Park. They are both buried at Woodlawn Garden of Memories Cemetery.

Notes

References

Notes

Cited works and further reading

External links

* Contemporar

pertaining to the murders of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña * ''Cantu v. State''

* ''Bush Administration vs. Texas on Death Row Case'': a 2007 ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

Peña and Ertman

June 24, 1993

Gang initiation

Abduction and assault

Murders

Discovery

Sentencing and incarceration

Executions

Aftermath

See also

Notes

References

Notes

Cited works and further reading

Further reading

External links