Gruesome new details have emerged in the murder investigation of a 12-year-old girl who was found strangled in a creek just hours after sneaking out of her home.
Police said Jocelyn Nungaray’s body was found floating in a creek near her home in Houston, Texas, on Monday after she snuck out of the house at 10 p.m.
It has since been revealed that the preteen went to a local supermarket, where officers believe she was approached by two unknown male suspects.
She called her 13-year-old boyfriend from the grocery store around midnight that night — and he would later report hearing her talking to two adults, Houston Mayor John Whitmire announced at a news conference Tuesday.
“There will be a report soon, showing very bad, horrific conditions,” he promised – before revealing that the young girl had been raped. according to KHO.
Jocelyn Nungary, 12, was found dead of strangulation in a shallow creek near her home on Sunday
Her grieving mother, Alexis Nungary, is now struggling to come to terms with what happened.
‘It’s like it’s not real’ she told Click2Houston. “I keep hearing everything, and everyone telling me everything, and I hear it and it doesn’t register.”
She remembers telling her daughter not to stay up too late on Sunday night around 10pm as she was at her work the next day. Those would be the last words she ever spoke to her daughter.
At 3 a.m. Monday, Alexis said she noticed Jocelyn’s cat was going “crazy” but assumed the cat was with her daughter, who always slept with her pet at night.
It wasn’t until she woke up at 6 a.m. and started her normal routine of waking her five-year-old son and Jocelyn that she noticed her daughter was missing.
Police have identified two men as ‘persons of interest’ in the murder investigation
She then frantically searched the house, walked around their apartment complex looking for her daughter, then got into her car and pinged her daughter’s cell phone.
It was traced to a creek where police were already investigating.
Earlier that morning, Billie Jackson was driving home after dropping her husband off at work when she found Jocelyn’s body in a shallow creek.
“I was driving by, and when I looked along the creek, I thought it was a mannequin,” Jackson told ABC 13.
“I made a U-turn and stopped on the bridge, put my indicators on, looked down and realized it was someone. “I parked here and called 911,” she said.
It is believed that Jocelyn first met the two men when she went to a supermarket
Alexis says she now wants justice for her young daughter.
She said she does not believe she knows the two men Jocelyn was seen with at the convenience store, who have been identified by Houston police as “persons of interest in the case.”
But Alexis says she suspects they live in the apartment complex or walked to the store from a nearby state park.
“I want karma to hit them, I’m angry,” Alexis told Click2Houston. ‘They took advantage of her.
‘She’s so young, she’s twelve.
“I want justice,” she continued. ‘I want whoever saw them to call the police. They took my baby.”
Billie Jackson said she saw Jocelyn’s body in the creek on her way home after dropping her husband off at work Monday morning
Alexis also said she doesn’t know why Jocelyn snuck out of the house, although she noted that she has been struggling with her mental health in recent months.
“I don’t know why, what possessed her to walk around this area late at night,” Alexis said.
‘I always told her never to leave the house, never to leave unattended and to always be safe. There are people here who are crazy.
“I don’t think she ever thought it would happen to her.”
She and other family members have described the preteen as a loving and caring child.
“Jocy was a smart, loving, caring young lady,” her uncle Joamel said told Click2Houston. “Every time she came over, she brightened the room and was loved by everyone in the neighborhood.
“She had no reason to die that way.”
Alexis also described her as the “greatest friend” who was “very goofy.”
“She had lifelong ambitions,” Alexis said. “She loved everyone, was so kind.”
a GoFundMe has now been set up to pay for Jocelyn’s funeral.
“Her family was not prepared for such a loss, and [need] help give her daughter the memorial she deserves, honor her memory and say our final goodbyes,” it reads.
As of Wednesday evening, it had already raised more than $16,000.
