ManilaMailDC.Net - Filam girl kidnapped, raped, killed by Houston gang

5-man gang caught; leader is sentenced to death.

HOUSTON, Texas – A 19-year-old leader of a gang who carjacked, robed, raped and killed a 23-year-old Filipino American girl Maria Aparece last year was condemned to death June 28. Also killed with Maria was her friend, 17-year-old Huy Ngo.
Sentenced to die was Dexter Johnson who, along with his family, created a scene in the courtroom while pleading with the Harris County judge for mercy. Johnson, who is married and has a son, hurled a chair forcing police to subdue him while his mother and wife collapsed in the courtroom floor. TBot were taken away in stretchers. After the sentencing, the presiding judge met some members of the audience, including the parents of the victims. District Judge Denise Collins consoled with the Filipino parents of Maria Aparece, gently hugging Christina Aparece and shook the hand of Protasio Aparece Jr.

The Houston Chronicle described the reaction of Johnson to the verdict. “He had sat stonefaced throughout the day, the third in the punishment phase of his trial, staring at the top of the defense table. After the decision was read, Johnson gazed up and pressed his lips together. His eyes filled with tears. Then he looked toward his family and lifted his hand as if to wave to them.

Moments later, Johnson’s mother paced the hallway and spoke emotionally of how her son had been “misjudged.”
“My son is no murderer,” Renee Johnson said. “He didn’t have it in his blood. There was no evidence. ... God is gonna fix this."
Seated inside a then-locked courtroom, a crying Protasio Aparece Jr. told a reporter, “Can you imagine how violent he was the night he killed my daughter." He also said the most difficult part of the case was sitting through trial, learning exactly how his daughter had been brutalized.
Emotion has surfaced throughout the case. At a pretrial hearing last year, one of Aparece’s uncles lunged at Johnson.
When the jury found him guilty earlier in June, Johnson covered his face with his hands as the foreman read the verdict. He stormed out of the courtroom after jurors adjourned to the jury room.

Johnson was among five accused of carjacking Aparece and her friend, Huy Ngo, on June 18, 2006. The pair were chatting in her Toyota in front of Ngo’s home when Johnson and two others threatened them with a shotgun and a pistol, according to testimony.

Johnson; his friend Keithron Fields, 18; and a third man who is not charged in the case, drove the couple around Houston while taking Aparece’s cash and credit cards and trying to get her ATM access number, according to trial testimony. Timothy Randle, 20, and Ashley Ervin, 18, were following the stolen vehicle in Ervin’s car. Prosecutors said Johnson raped Aparece in the backseat of her car after parking near a patch of thick woods. Her boyfriend was forced to listen to the assault while on his knees as the other four taunted him.

Johnson and Fields then marched a naked Aparece and a shirtless Ngo 60 feet into the woods and shot both in the head. The two bodies were in the woods for five days before investigators pieced together what happened. Randle led them to the bodies. The five are suspected in a crime spree that authorities said also claimed the lives of Brady Davis and Jose Lopez in separate shootings. Fields, Randle and Ervin continue to face capital murder charges in the incident.

“This may be the meanest bunch of guys we’ve come across,” Houston police Detective Alan Brown said. Police said the crime spree began May 26 last year with the slaying of a 61-year-old retired wood shop teacher. It ended around June 20 when a man was carjacked and fatally shot. Police said the group was led by Johnson, then 18, and Keithron Fields, 17, who grew up together in northeast Houston. The others charged with capital murder include Timothy Randle, 19; Alvie Butler, 22; and Ashley Ervin, 17. Johnson, Fields and Ervin also are charged in two additional murders. Police said they were responsible for the deaths of Maria Aparece, 23, and Huy Ngo, 17, whose bodies were discovered in an overgrown lot. They had disappeared June 18, 2006.

Detectives are looking into other cases to see if the suspects can be linked to more crimes. “We feel strongly that there are other murders as well as dozens and dozens of other robberies out there," Brown said. The car that Aparece was driving was recovered at an Humble apartment complex. This led to the arrest of the suspects who readily admitted to using the car in a crime spree but said they left Aparece and Ngo safely on the side of the road.

Investigators said Aparece’s credit and debit cards were used at several locations after her disappearance, including gas stations and restaurants. Investigators said Aparece’s vehicle was used in a home invasion and aggravated assaults. After their disappearance last year, the victims’ families and scores of friends learned of the recovery of the bodies at a command center set up in northwest Houston by Texas EquuSearch. Searchers went door-to-door handing out fliers asking for information when they were told the search was over. “It’s such a great family. There’s so much love here, and it doesn’t make it any easier even though you kind of know in the beginning what the results are probably going to be. We understand they were found together," said Tim Miller with EquuSearch.

The scene at the courtroom was tense from the beginning. The 9 a.m. hearing did not begin until after 9:30 a.m. About 20 friends and family of the suspects sat in the middle of the courtroom, surrounded by close to 50 friends and family of the victims — all waiting. There was a guard at every door or the courtroom, which couldn’t hold everyone.