Migrant Girl Raped & Strangled to Death Near Houston

PASADENA, TX – A community in the Houston area is mourning the death of an 11-year-old Guatemalan girl who was raped and strangled to death over the weekend.

According to multiple reports, on Aug. 12, 2023, Pasadena Police Officers were dispatched to an apartment complex near the intersection of Main and Harris for the report of a child that was not breathing. Paramedics arrived on the scene first and pronounced 11-year-old Maria Gonzalez, of Guatemala, dead on the scene.

The detectives' investigation revealed that the death was a homicide. The cause of Maria's death is being ruled as sexual assault and strangulation.

Maria and her father, who is also from Guatemala, were the only two people living in the apartment. Her father left for work that morning and shortly after Maria texted him that an unknown person was knocking at the front door. That was the last communication he had with his daughter.

Later in the day, her aunt and uncle who also lived in the complex went to check on the child but she was nowhere to be found. At around 3 p.m., the girl's father returned and found Maria wrapped in a trash bag and stuffed in a laundry basket under her bed.

PPD at this point does not have a suspect. The girl's father has a credible alibi according to police. Police are interviewing a number of individuals who live in the complex, which houses numerous Guatemalans.

Maria and her father had lived in the complex for three months. They arrived in Texas four years ago with her mother. Her mother has since moved back to Guatemala and Maria had lived with her father.

Police did not reveal the legal status of Maria or her father. The department's spokesperson did say that getting DNA and cooperation from people has been difficult because of the undocumented population.