After the violent death of a Texan who is said to have sexually abused his nine-year-old daughter, more than 230,000 Americans have called for the release of the alleged perpetrators via an online petition.
18-year-old Alejandro Treviño, his one-year younger brother Christian and their 18-year-old friend Juan Eduardo Melendez were arrested over the weekend in Pharr, south Texas.
Prosecutors have accused them of killing Gabriel Quintanilla, Alejandro and Christian Treviños' stepfather, more than a week ago. Her nine-year-old half-sister, the dead man's daughter, had previously reported that the forty-two-year-old had been sexually assaulted. According to the previous investigations, the young people confronted their stepfather and became violent. When Quintanilla fled, the brothers and their friend beat him up. They loaded the unconscious, forty-two-year-old into their truck, drove to neighboring McAllen, and dumped him in a field. Quintanilla's body was later discovered by a farmer.
The teenagers now face life imprisonment on charges of murder, assault and conspiracy to commit a crime.
Hidalgo County Judicial Authorities said the slain stepfather had been wanted on a two-and-a-half year warrant for a previous sex offense.
He is said to have repeatedly raped a girl from 2014 to 2016.
The case reminds many Texans of 47-year-old Jesus Mora Flores.
The farm worker was fatally injured by a farmer in the summer of 2013 when he abused his five-year-old daughter in a barn.
However, the judicial authorities did not press charges at the time because the farmer had called 911 to save the badly injured rapist.