Three defendants have pled guilty to the 2022 murder of 16-year-old Emily Patricia Rodriguez in Colony Ridge.
The three—Kevin Geovanny Rivera-Ortiz, Katherine Alvarez-Flores, and Joel Garcia-Martinez—were accused of luring the victim under false pretenses, fatally shooting her, and dumping her body in the controversial Colony Ridge development.
While no motive for the case was ever uncovered, it was believed to be possible gang activity.
Rivera-Ortiz was sentenced to 50 years in prison and is reported to be an illegal alien with an ICE hold. Alvarez-Flores also received 50 years and Garcia-Martinez was sentenced to 30 years. Texas Scorecard asked ICE for the current immigration status of Rivera-Ortiz but did not receive a response by publication.
“While no punishment can ever fully account for the loss of Emily Patricia Rodriguez, these sentences provide her family with a sense of closure and justice. In Texas, a life sentence for murder is considered to be 60 years for parole purposes. By accepting a 50-year sentence, both Kevin Geovanny Rivera-Ortiz and Katherine Alvarez-Flores will serve significant time in prison,” Liberty County District Attorney Jennifer Bergman told Bluebonnet News. “Importantly, their guilty pleas waive all rights to appeal, ensuring the family will not have to endure additional legal battles in the years to come. This resolution holds the defendants accountable while sparing Emily’s loved ones further pain.”
The Colony Ridge development has been under intense scrutiny from officials due to a large presence of illegal aliens.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused the developers of attracting illegal aliens by using misleading marketing and predatory financing schemes.
Paxton’s office wrote, “Former employees of Colony Ridge have represented that the company instructed them to avoid selling to customers who could speak English or who did not appear to be of Latino or Hispanic heritage.”
The U.S. Department of Justice sued Colony Ridge in 2023 and wrote in a press release that Colony Ridge targeted Spanish-speaking buyers by advertising to them with Spanish videos on TikTok showing different national flags and regional music from Latin America.
Colony Ridge has seen explosive population growth over the past 10 years.
The development is also reported to have a foreclosure rate 50 times greater than the national average and has been plagued by smuggling, drugs, and violent crime.
“Colony Ridge is in my district, and it has placed enormous strain on local resources—schools, roads, county and city services,” said House District 18 Representative Janis Holt (R-Silsbee).
Texas Scorecard recently covered another case in Colony Ridge in which a Guatemalan national was arrested at his Colony Ridge property for his role in a human smuggling operation that killed over 50 people in Mexico. He owned four properties in the development.
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