Southwest
Texas teen found stabbed in bathtub likely stalked by illegal immigrant suspect who texted her friends: police
WARNING: GRAPHIC
Texas police believe an illegal immigrant suspect charged with murdering Lizbeth Medina, a 16-year-old girl found stabbed to death in her bathtub Dec. 5, likely stalked the teenager before he allegedly took her life.
“More than anything, I want something good to come out of this tragedy. I want to find a way that we can make better laws because, as you know, this person shouldn’t have even been here,” Lizbeth’s mother, Jacqueline Medina, told Fox News Digital. “If protocols were followed, he probably shouldn’t have even been in the country. So, I definitely want something good to come out of this in my daughter’s name. No matter how long it takes.”
Lizbeth was Jacqueline’s only daughter and her only “life’s mission.” Now, she says, her mission is to “get justice.”
“I want to prevent this from happening to another child. Our children need to be safe in our communities,” she said. “There should be no reason why there should be children afraid of people coming around — strangers, at that — and stalking them.”
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SUSPECT IN TEXAS CHEERLEADER MURDER HELD ON ICE DETAINER
Jacqueline Medina arrived home to find her daughter, Lizbeth “Liz” Medina, dead in a bathtub of their home after she had not seen or heard from the 16-year-old that afternoon. (Instagram)
Rafael Govea Romero, 23, is charged with capital murder and has been placed on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer after Medina, a cheerleader at Edna High School, was found in the bathtub with “smeared blood on the sides of her and what appeared to be a stab wound to the upper stomach area,” according to a police affidavit obtained by Fox News Digital.
“While processing the scene, it was discovered Lizbeth had multiple stab wounds, and her clothing was soaking wet, leading us to believe Lizbeth’s homicide was a criminal homicide (murder) and that her body had been washed after the murder,” Edna Police wrote in the affidavit.
Police also determined Lizbeth’s apartment had been burglarized Nov. 13, about a month before the teenager’s murder.
Jacqueline said she didn’t make the connection at first. She and Lizbeth had noticed little things that were going missing from their apartment for some time. On Nov. 13, they reported the missing belongings to police because some larger items had disappeared.
The Edna Police Department announced the arrest of Rafael Govea Romero, an “undocumented male” officials believe is “the person responsible for the death of Lizbeth Medina” in Schulenburg. (Edna Police Department)
“After this person was caught and [police] found those specific things that were missing, that’s when I knew it was connected,” Jacqueline said.
Officers also indicated a connection between the burglary and the murder in the affidavit.
“I believe the burglary from 11/13/2023 could have a connection with the murder suspect,” an Edna officer wrote. “I believed the suspect of this murder was at large and a present danger to the community. I was especially concerned that the person believed to be the murder suspect was texting other high school students, leading me to believe the suspect was targeting students.
TEXAS CHEERLEADER, 16, FOUND DEAD IN APARTMENT BATHTUB BELIEVED MURDERED: ‘I DON’T UNDERSTAND’
“Furthermore, I believe the public was in danger due to the stalking-like behavior displayed by the suspect via the potential connection of the 11/13/2023 burglary and driving through the apartment complex on 12/4/2023.”
Jacqueline said the stalking behavior is the “scariest part” of the tragedy that has forever altered her life since Dec. 5.
Jacqueline Medina arrived home to find her daughter, Lizbeth “Liz” Medina, dead in the bathtub of their home at the Cottonwood Apartments after she hadn’t seen or heard from the 16-year-old that afternoon. (Facebook)
“I can’t even think how a person is capable of such things,” she said. “I didn’t understand how a stranger could stalk someone. You know what I mean? I didn’t think it was real. I’ve seen it in movies, but I never once thought it was real, and that’s scary to me. I have panic attacks.”
“If you wanted to burglarize the apartment, why not just take whatever you wanted and leave her?”
Edna authorities indicated Romero may have stolen Lizbeth’s phone after the murder. Lizbeth’s boyfriend tracked the 16-year-old’s location to an area about a half mile away from her apartment using his smartphone the day of her murder. The following day, Lizbeth’s cousin saw that her Snapchat sent to the victim had been opened, indicating that someone was using her phone after her death.
TEXAS POLICE ARREST ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT IN 16-YEAR-OLD CHEERLEADER LIZBETH MEDINA’S MURDER
Additionally, Lizbeth’s boyfriend and friend received texted replies from her number Dec. 9, the day of Lizbeth’s vigil.
“So people understand how sick this man is, Saturday, the day of my daughter’s vigil — which was, to me, magical because I know she was there and everybody who was there felt her — minutes after the vigil, one of her friends texted my daughter’s phone and just wanted to say something beautiful to her. And this person responded,” Jacqueline said.
Jacqueline Medina previously described her daughter as “an amazing, good girl.” She was “very mature” and cared deeply for her friends and family. (Jacqueline Medina)
The friend told Lizbeth’s boyfriend, who then texted Lizbeth’s phone himself, and he also received a response.
“At that point, they call me, and they said, ‘Jackie, someone’s responding to Elizabeth’s phone.’ My heart dropped. I said, ‘It’s him. It’s got to be him.’”
Within an hour of reporting the suspicious phone activity to Edna police, authorities were able to track the geolocation of Lizbeth’s phone to the suspect in Schulenburg, Texas, about an hour’s drive from Edna, where they arrested Romero.
“I’m so thankful to the police department. … There were a lot of people involved, and I’m thankful to the community who helped as well. But it was the quick moves of the police department,” Jacqueline said. “They got an emergency disclosure for the geolocation for that phone and were able to track this person.”
Lizbeth Medina, 16, was found dead in her Texas home Dec. 5. (Jacqueline Medina)
The suspect’s bond was set at $2 million after his arrest.
Jacqueline said she wants to keep her daughter’s memory alive and put an end to rumors about herself and her daughter.
“There are so many lies being put out in the media,” the grieving mother said. “And I don’t care at this point if they talk about me. I just want my daughter’s memory alive. … She’s not here to defend herself. She’s not here to say, ‘I didn’t know this person. This person was a stranger.’ And for these people that are heartless and speaking on my daughter’s name, that’s disgusting.”
She previously described her daughter as “an amazing, good girl.” She was “very mature” and cared deeply for her friends and family.
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“I just want everybody to know that that was an amazing child,” Jacqueline said. “She wasn’t a normal teenager getting in trouble for doing crazy stuff. She was very mature for her age. She was a caring and loving person who, as far as I know and from the messages I received, she changed a lot of people’s lives. I just want everybody to remember her that way and not the way that she was taken from me.”
The Medina family has created a GoFundMe in its efforts to find Liz’s suspected killer, titled “Justice for Lizbeth Medina.”
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Southwest
James Carville blasts Crockett for breaking ‘first rule of politics,’ focusing on herself more than voters
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Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville spoke about Democratic Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s bid for the Senate in Thursday’s episode of his podcast, arguing she tends to break a key rule of politics.
“Politics War Room” podcast co-host Al Hunt argued Crockett throwing her hat into the ring for the Texas Senate is good news. He argued that the most likely Democratic candidate to win would be state Rep. James Talarico, saying, “If he ends up running against Ken Paxton, I like those odds.”
Carville said he feels more optimistic about Texas than he has in a long time.
“I’ll address the issue of Jasmine Crockett,” Carville said. “First of all, it seems like she’s well-educated. It seems like she’s got a lot of energy. But she, to me, she violates the first rule of politics, and that is, in politics, you always make it about the voters and never about yourself.
CROCKETT SPENDS EYE-POPPING AMOUNT OF CAMPAIGN CASH ON THIS
James Carville warned that while Rep. Jasmine Crockett is viable in a heavily Democrat-leaning district, she may not do so well in a broader area. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for MoveOn)
“You listen to her talk. It’s a lot more about herself than it is the voters.”
He warned that Crockett lives in a district that favors Democrats by 24 points, arguing it would be far better for her to try to rally Democrats in districts that slightly favor Republicans.
“You can stay in Congress as long as you want,” Carville suggested. “You can get all the hits. You can get all the clicks. You can get on all of the TV shows. You can get in as long as you’re polemic, but you’re not helping very much.”
He went on to argue that a perfect example of Democrats making unforced errors would be Tennessee’s 7th district, where Aftyn Behn was considered a poor choice of candidate in an election where Republicans were unusually vulnerable.
Carville joked that it was as if Democrats had “gone into a lab” to “design the worst candidate that we could possibly run in Tennessee 7.
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Rep. Jasmine Crockett, frequently seen in the news for incendiary rhetoric, caused a shakeup by entering the race for the Texas senate. (LM Otero/AP Photo)
“We would pick somebody who said they didn’t like country music. We could pick someone that said they don’t even like where they live. We could pick someone that said they wanted to pay for gender-affirming surgery for prison. We could pick someone that said, ‘We want to defund the police.’ Actually, we picked that person. We actually did. And even there, she cut the margin from 22 to nine.
“But we know what wins elections,” Carville concluded. “We just do. And what wins elections is not sitting there talking incessantly about yourself. Winning elections is not how many clicks you get or how much overnight fundraising you do. Winning elections is being part of framing issues and understanding where people are coming from, and I don’t think Congressman Crockett is very good at that. I’ll be very frank.”
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Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville has frequently warned that the Democratic Party loses what should be easy victories by catering to far-left cultural politics. (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for SCAD)
Fox News Digital reached out to Behn and Crockett and did not receive an immediate response.
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Southwest
Black Lives Matter OKC leader charged with wire fraud, money laundering in alleged $3.15M embezzlement scheme
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The executive director of Black Lives Matter (BLM) Oklahoma City (OKC) has been charged with wire fraud and money laundering after federal prosecutors say she diverted more than $3.15 million in returned bail checks into her personal bank accounts over a five-year period, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.
Tashella Sheri Amore Dickerson, 52, of Oklahoma City, is accused of routing money intended for the group’s bail fund and social justice programs into accounts she controlled between June 2020 and October 2025.
The indictment says Dickerson used the money “for her personal benefit,” including travel to Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, “tens of thousands of dollars in retail shopping,” more than $50,000 in food deliveries, a vehicle and six real properties.
According to a Department of Justice (DOJ) press release covering the indictment, BLM OKC raised more than $5.6 million beginning in 2020, including major grants from the Community Justice Exchange, the Massachusetts Bail Fund and the Minnesota Freedom Fund.
BLACK LIVES MATTER’S $6M CALIFORNIA HOUSE DRAWS SCRUTINY
The Rev. T. Sheri Dickerson, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter in Oklahoma City, speaks during a rally outside the Stillwater Police Department in Stillwater, Okla. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
Those organizations routed most of the money through the Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ), which served as BLM OKC’s fiscal sponsor and required that all funds be used for tax-exempt purposes permitted under Section 501(c)(3). AFGJ also prohibited real estate purchases without its approval and required BLM OKC to fully account for expenditures upon request.
Prosecutors say Dickerson instead deposited at least $3.15 million in returned bail checks into her personal accounts “rather than into BLMOKC’s accounts” and used interstate wires to submit two annual reports to AFGJ that “did not disclose” her personal use of funds. Those reports said the organization’s money had been used only for tax-exempt purposes.
Dickerson served as the group’s executive director beginning in at least 2016 and had access to BLM OKC’s bank, PayPal and CashApp accounts, according to the indictment.
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Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., left, and Black Lives Matter Oklahoma City leader Tashella Sheri Amore Dickerson pose for a selfie. (Tashella Sheri Amore Dickerson via Facebook)
Prosecutors allege the misconduct began during the period when national bail funds allowed BLM OKC to retain portions of returned bail money to build a revolving bail fund or support its stated mission.
In 2022, Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, a separate national organization not affiliated with BLM OKC, came under scrutiny after New York Magazine reported that it had purchased a $6 million California property using donor funds.
Internal memos showed senior leaders discussing how to manage questions about the house, which the group said was intended to serve as creative and community space. The reporting ignited debate at the time over financial transparency and oversight within national BLM-associated organizations.
When contacted about Dickerson’s charges, a Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation spokesperson said BLM practices a “model of decentralized leadership.”
“The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation operates independently from local chapters, and the local chapters operate independently of the Foundation. The Foundation remains committed to transparency and integrity, and disrupting what philanthropy looks like in service of Black people,” the spokesperson said.
Image of “Spirit Rock” painted with a Black Lives Matter message. (Alliance Defending Freedom)
A federal grand jury returned a 25-count indictment Dec. 3 charging Dickerson with 20 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering. She faces up to 20 years in federal prison for each wire fraud count and up to 10 years for each money-laundering count, along with potential fines of up to $250,000 per charge.
All charges are merely allegations and Dickerson is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. The case was investigated by the FBI’s Oklahoma City Field Office and IRS Criminal Investigation.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to Black Lives Matter OKC and the Alliance for Global Justice for comment.
Fox News correspondent David Spunt and Fox News Digital’s Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.
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Southwest
US Border Patrol agent kills suspected cartel smuggler after ‘struggle’ near Texas riverbank
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A U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and killed a suspected cartel smuggler on Thursday after he came across the Rio Grande in Starr County, Texas, Fox News has confirmed.
The suspected smuggler assaulted the agent, who fired his weapon in self-defense, killing the man, three border law enforcement sources told Fox News.
The agent is “okay,” according to those sources.
ICE OFFICER SHOOTS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT DURING PHOENIX TRAFFIC STOP GONE WRONG, BOTH HOSPITALIZED
A U.S. Border Patrol agent is alive after shooting and killing a suspected cartel smuggler during a “struggle” at the border, according to Texas law enforcement. (REUTERS/Mike Blake)
The Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed the officer-involved shooting on X, adding that the suspect was pronounced dead at Starr County Memorial Hospital.
The Starr County Sheriff’s Office said Border Patrol agents were “involved in a struggle prior to the shooting,” which was confirmed at about 5:30 p.m. local time.
U.S. Border Patrol was involved in an officer-involved shooting Thursday in Midway, Texas. (Kirsten Luce for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
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The sheriff’s office asked the public to avoid the area as first responders clear and secure the scene.
It is unclear what led to the encounter or the subsequent shooting. (Herika Martinez/AFP via Getty Images)
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The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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