A suspect has been arrested in connection with a Texas woman found tortured and dead in Mexico earlier this month.
According to the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office, police arrested Braulio Trevino Martínez, 39, for the murder of 23-year-old Lizbeth Flores, Telemundo reports. The suspect was arrested at his home in the Molinos del Rey subdivision in Matamoros, Mexico.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Flores told her mother on August 9 that she would be home to their Brownsville, Texas, residence later that evening after making a trip to Matamoros, Mexico, reportedly to visit her boyfriend. When Flores hadn’t returned home by the following day, her mother contacted the police.
On August 11, authorities found Flores deceased on the side of the road in Matamoros, She had been beaten with a large rock. Her scalp had been removed and her teeth forcefully pulled out.
Martínez is a convicted sex offender with ties to Texas and Georgia. According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s sex offender registry, Martínez is listed as an absconder.
DailyMail reporters that the Flores family knew Martínez, but it’s unclear what the nature of the relationship was.
Robbery appears to be the motive for the attack, authorities said. Martínez allegedly lured the victim to Mexico by claiming her boyfriend had been kidnapped and asking for ransom money.
The cause of death has been listed as blunt force trauma.
“She was young, she had many things ahead of her and more because she had two children and I want that what they did to my daughter, each one who participated in her death, I want them to pay,” mother María Rubio said during an interview with Telemundo.
So far, no other arrests have been made.
Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: Lizbeth Flores/Handout]
