A Texas man has been arrested after years on the lam for allegedly murdering and dismembering a woman he wanted to date, KRTK-TV reports.
On Thursday, police took 51-year-old Erik Arceneaux into custody in connection with the presumed June 2018 death of Maria Jimenez-Rodriguez.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Arceneaux had been charged in 2019, but he went into hiding and escaped arrest until this week, when police caught up with him in a Walmart parking lot in southeast Houston.
Loved ones of Jimenez-Rodriguez, a 29-year-old single mom at the time she vanished, say the arrest is welcome news.
“It’s been five years of torture, five years of tears,” Gloria Jiminez, Jimenez-Rodriguez’s sister, told KHOU-TV. “I’m very relieved that he is finally in jail.”
Arceneaux reportedly told police that he and Jimenez-Rodriguez were in a romantic relationship, but the woman’s family members say that was not the case and that she did not want to date him.
Rather, Jimenez-Rodriguez’s loved ones say Arceneaux was the woman’s trainer and had become obsessed with her. He reportedly stalked her and called her repeatedly, according to Fox 26.
On June 21, 2018, Jimenez-Rodriguez was reported missing after she did not show up for work as a paralegal at a law firm. Her colleagues received unusual text messages purportedly from her stating that she would be late, but co-workers suspect she did not actually send the messages.
Records show phones belonging to Arceneaux and Jimenez-Rodriguez were both at his home on the day Jimenez-Rodriguez went missing, contradicting Arceneaux’s claim that he hadn’t seen her then.
Security camera footage reportedly shows Arceneaux abandoning Jimenez-Rodriguez’s vehicle, and he also was seen at a Home Depot purchasing a chainsaw and trash bags. Investigators later uncovered significant blood evidence on the walls and ceiling of a bedroom at his residence, according to KRTK-TV.
Jimenez-Rodriguez’s body has never been found.
On Friday, Jimenez-Rodriguez’s loved ones met in a Houston-area park to remember her and share gratitude that her accused killer is finally facing justice.
“I think it’s time to get answers and it’s time for him to open up and touch his heart, if he has one, and say where Maria’s at. Give us that information so we can have closure,” Jiminez told KHOU-TV.
The family members said they want to remember Jimenez-Rodriguez’s life and the joy she brought them, not how she died.
“I want to think about the happy times in her life,” Jiminez told KHOU-TV. “I don’t want to think about the last moments.”
A $250,000 bond had been initially set for Arceneaux, but a judge later revoked it, meaning he remains in custody in the Harris County jail.
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[Feature Photo: Maria Jimenez-Rodriguez/Facebook; Erik Arceneaux/Houston Police Department]
