If you need help with the Public File, call (713) 778-4745. Copyright © 2021 Click2Houston.com is managed by Graham Digital and pubished by Graham Media Group, a division of Graham Holdings.<doc-sep>EMBED >More News Videos New video shows authorities transferring suspected serial killer Jose Rodriguez to another facility. Jose Gilberto Rodriguez is in custody at Eldridge @ Fallbrook. He was arrested after a brief vehicle pursuit. #HouNews pic.twitter.com/yottHARuFJ — Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) July 17, 2018 EMBED >More News Videos Video of authorities chasing murder suspect in NW Harris County EMBED >More News Videos Eyewitness News reporter Jeff Ehling was on the scene as suspected serial killer Jose Gilberto Rodriguez was caught. EMBED >More News Videos Sheriff Gonzalez discusses the arrest of paroled sex offender wanted in crime spree EMBED >More News Videos A METROLift bus driver was shot overnight, police say EMBED >More News Videos A Mattress Firm employee was found dead inside the store. EMBED >More News Videos The memorial outside Pamela Johnson's home has grown as a break in the case is helping investigators move forward. EMBED >More News Videos Video of murder suspect getting taken into custody EMBED >More News Videos Authorities say no part of town can be considered safe because suspected killer Jose Rodriguez has access to a car taken from a murder victim. HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Authorities in northwest Harris County have captured Jose Gilberto Rodriguez, the suspect wanted in connection to three murders in the Houston area, according to deputies on the scene.On Tuesday morning, officials say Rodriguez, 46, was spotted in a dark Nissan Sentra, a vehicle that belonged to one of the murder victims.Rodriguez led police on a chase that started around Eldridge and Fallbrook. This was close to where the crime spree began on Foxburo Drive.He was taken into custody at North Eldridge Parkway and Wortham Landing.A search has been underway for Rodriguez since Monday afternoon after police identified him as the suspect in a violent crime spree around the Houston area that left two women and a man dead.Rodriguez is a parolee who was released from prison last year. He was paroled to a half-way house.In a joint news conference Monday evening, Houston police and the Harris County Sheriff's Office linked Rodriguez to the murder of a man at the Mattress1One along the North Freeway near Crosstimbers, the murder of a female worker Saturday at the Mattress Firm near Willowbrook Mall, and the killing of a 62-year-old widow in Cypress last Friday.Both agencies also connected Rodriguez to an armed home invasion on July 9 and the shooting and robbery of a METROLift driver earlier Monday. The driver is expected to recover.Eyewitness News learned Rodriguez has convictions for burglary, attempted aggravated sex abuse, auto theft, and criminal trespassing, all since 1989. He is a registered sex offender.Last September, Rodriguez made parole and was released from prison. In a startling revelation, police believe Rodriguez had cut off an ankle monitor that had been tracking his movements.Last Saturday, a store manager found the body of Allie Barrow between two mattresses at the Mattress Firm on FM 1960.Last Friday, 62-year-old Pamela Johnson was found dead in her home. Authorities say the woman's vehicle was seen being driven by Rodriguez shortly after.He was caught on surveillance video parking the car at Willowbrook Mall. He then walked into the mall and left on the other side from where he left the car.In the murder at Mattress1One, authorities say Eduardo Magana, who was an employee of the store, was found dead in the back of the building. Officials say Rodriguez took Magana's vehicle from the scene.It's the same car he was captured in Tuesday morning.In the midst of the investigation, Mattress1One released a statement, expressing sympathy for the victim's friends and family:Rodriguez was considered armed and extremely dangerous.Authorities say he may have been searching for another victim on Tuesday before he was arrested.Once the chase he led authorities on ended, deputies say they could see a revolver in plain view on the passenger seat of the stolen car.Deputies were already in the area when a homeowner off Jones Road spotted the vehicle.The arrest ended a nerve-racking week for residents who worried the suspect's violent crime spree would find its way to their homes next. "It is a shame that people lost their lives over this criminal, like this guy, you know, that never should have been released," said resident Dennis Lippert.We now know that Rodriguez's parents live near the area where he was caught, and that may be why he was active in those neighborhoods.<doc-sep>It was the call they'd been waiting for. Harris County Deputy Jorge Reyes and his partner had been up all night, patrolling Cypress, eyes peeled for a parolee suspected in a violent spree that included the July killings of two people at local mattress stores and a woman found dead at her home. The suspect — who'd allegedly cut off his ankle monitor before unleashing a nine-day reign of terror — had eluded capture for almost two weeks, sowing seeds of fear throughout the northern part of the county. But just after 6 a.m., the lawmen got the tip they needed. There was a suspicious man in a gray Nissan Sentra in the neighborhood. And he fit the description. It took a half-hour to find him and 14 minutes to chase him down, but by 7 a.m., deputies had him in custody. Now, authorities say Jose Gilberto Rodriguez is expected to face three capital murder charges after a much-anticipated arrest that brought relief to residents of greater Houston. "A lot of Harris County residents will be sleeping much better tonight," said a relieved Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, less than 24 hours after he and Houston's police chief held a joint news conference to plead for the public's help in locating Rodriguez. In addition to the three killings, Rodriguez, 46, a convicted sex offender, is suspected in a home invasion involving an elderly couple and the shooting of a METROLift bus driver. Authorities said the victims were innocent people who just happened to cross the suspect's violent path. The violent spree focused new attention on the problem of parole violators, sparking promises of change from Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, who vowed to create the state's "biggest" task force to go after them. "We are going to be flies on stink to parolees," Acevedo said late Tuesday. "They're not going to like us." In addition to creating a "model" task force of local agencies focused on the county's 18,000 parolees, Acevedo called for tougher laws, such as subjecting those on parole to random searches. The manhunt began around July 5, when Rodriguez clipped off his ankle monitor and slipped away, authorities say. They gave the following account: WOMAN SLAIN: Mattress Firm employee found shot dead in Willowbrook store Four days later, investigators say, he broke into an elderly couple's home in the 12000 block of Foxburo. There, he allegedly held an 87-year-old homeowner at gunpoint, tying him up and crushing a pillow over his face during a robbery. The man's 86-year-old wife was in the shower at the time and survived unharmed. It's not clear what the suspect did or where he went in the days that followed. But on Friday, police found the first body. It was that of 62-year-old Pamela Johnson, a Kroger grocery chain employee who'd been shot to death in her Cypress home before. Her car was stolen. A day later, the manager of a Mattress Firm on FM 1960 in the Willowbrook area found 28-year-old employee Allie Barrow shot in the head in the store's back office. Hours later, a witness spotted a man ditching Johnson's missing car at the Willowbrook Mall. Early Monday, the violent streak continued with the shooting of a 22-year-old METROLift bus driver. He was transported to the hospital and listed in critical condition. The last of the fatal shootings came later that day, when police found the body of 57-year-old Edward Magaña inside a Mattress One on the North Freeway. By that point, police were on high alert. They thought they knew who their killer was — and that he might be looking to kill again. "There's no doubt in our mind that he intended to find his next victim," Gonzalez said. The suspect's violent past dates back to at least 1989, when, records show, he was sent to prison for attempted sex assault, burglary, and auto theft convictions. That September, he broke into a young woman's home and stole her car. He pulled down the teenage girl's pants and underwear and tried to rape her in an act that court records describe as "more than mere preparation that tended to but failed to effect the commission of the offense intended." He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in prison, and while behind bars also was sentenced to six years in prison for a theft charge he picked up in Montgomery County the year before. All four of the felony sentences ran concurrently, but two years later he caught another charge while in prison at the Coffield Unit in Anderson County. This time, he was sentenced to 10 more years in prison after a conviction for one count of possession of a deadly weapon inside a penitentiary, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jeremy Desel. With the stacked sentences, he wasn't let out on parole until September 2017. It wasn't the parole board's decision to release him, Desel stressed. Given the amount of time he'd served, the law required his release. At one point he lived in the Dallas area after prison, though records show he later returned to Houston and moved into a Fifth Ward halfway house. He was deemed a high-risk sex offender, though the home's owner, Theresa Williams, described him as nice and hardworking — an "ideal" tenant who always paid on time and helped mow the grass. He was holding down a job at a nearby Tyson's factory and was scheduled to be under parole supervision until 2023. Williams said she last saw him sometime last week, when he left the house, ostensibly headed out to do laundry. "Don't worry, Mama T," Williams recalled him saying. "I'm never gonna leave you." When police started questioning Rodriguez on Tuesday morning, the man they found was not nice or interested in helping out. He was stoic, investigators said. He didn't admit to his alleged crimes or express remorse. But still, authorities said, they felt confident they had enough to tie him to all three slayings — though they declined to offer specifics.<doc-sep>Jose Rodriguez is suspected in at least three slayings in the past week. A parolee who authorities said cut off his ankle monitor and carried out a series of killings in the Houston area has been arrested and charged with capital murder. Jose Gilberto Rodriguez, 46, is a suspect in at least three slayings in the past week, with police calling him a "possible serial killer" at a news conference Monday night. Rodriguez was taken into custody without incident Tuesday morning after leading police on a chase, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said at a news conference Tuesday. A weapon was recovered, Gonzalez said. When Harris County Sheriff's deputy Jorge Reyes, who helped nab Rodriguez, left home for his shift Monday night, he told his wife, "I'm gonna catch him," Reyes recalled at Tuesday's news conference. Gonzalez said he's "happy and relieved that this dangerous individual ... is off the streets." Rodriguez, a high-risk registered sex offender, had been released from prison in September 2017 after serving part of a 20-year sentence for attempted aggravated sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl, according to records with the Texas Department of Corrections. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo on Tuesday said there aren't enough law enforcement officers focusing on holding parolees accountable and he promised to set the standard in Harris County. "We've got to up our game," Acevedo said. "There's not enough of us dealing with parolees." Rodriguez may be responsible for at least five attacks in the area, three of which were fatal shootings, police said. The victims appeared to be randomly chosen, officials said. The first attack, on July 9, was a home-invasion robbery where the victim survived. Four days later, Pamela Johnson, 62, was found dead inside her home in northwest Harris County, police said in a news release. Her car, a 2004 Chrysler PT Cruiser, was stolen from her home and found abandoned the next day at nearby Willowbrook Mall. When investigators reviewed surveillance video from the mall, they observed the suspect, later identified as Rodriguez, park the car and leave the scene. On Saturday, a second killing occurred at a mattress store in Houston, police said. The third slaying was at another mattress store in the area on Sunday. On Monday morning, a metro lift operator was robbed and shot but is expected to survive, officials said. Rodriguez has been charged with two counts of capital murder for Johnson's death and the mattress store attack, officials said Tuesday. A third capital murder charge will likely be filed Wednesday, officials said.<doc-sep>
(CNN) — If not for the sharp eye of a Houston resident, authorities say, a possible serial killer may have zeroed in on his next target. But Jose Gilberto Rodriguez, a parolee suspected in three killings over the past several days, was taken into custody Tuesday morning, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. Houston Police Jose Gilberto Rodriguez, a registered sex offender, was taken into custody Tuesday morning. “It’s possible he was casing the neighborhood in search of his next victim,” the sheriff said. “So thanks to the alert work of that citizen and swift action, we were able to get involved.” Gonzalez said the tipster spotted a suspicious vehicle early Tuesday. It was the same Nissan Sentra that police said Rodriguez was likely driving. After that resident called police, authorities realized Rodriguez was still in the car. Following a 14-minute pursuit through the neighborhood, Rodriguez was taken into custody without incident. Deputy Jorge Reyes, who initiated the traffic stop when the license plate came back stolen, said once Rodriguez realized he couldn’t escape, he pulled over and put his hands out the window. Deputies found a pistol in the car. “He didn’t say anything,” said Reyes, who has been with the sheriff’s office for 4 1/2 years. Forensic information that would tell whether the handgun was used in any of the crimes won’t be available until Wednesday, Det. David Crane of the sheriff’s office said. Rodriguez is accused of two of the killings, Crane said. A third possible holding charge of capital murder could be added Wednesday after Houston police look at the evidence. He is scheduled to appear in court Thursday. The suspect was interviewed but didn’t divulge much and made no admission of guilt, he said. Rodriguez’s arrest came hours after the sheriff warned of “a possible serial killer” on the loose. KPRC Police alerted the public to Rodriguez's car and photo. Rodriguez, 46, is a registered sex offender who is on parole. Police said he cut off his ankle monitor a few days before the first shooting. The first victim, Pamela Johnson, 62, was found dead Friday night inside her home in northwest Harris County after her family called authorities because they couldn’t reach her. Johnson’s car was stolen from her home and later discovered at a nearby mall. That’s when the Harris County Sheriff’s Office reviewed the mall’s surveillance video and made a connection with the suspect. Two other people were found dead at different mattress stores Saturday and Monday. Authorities said they also believe Rodriguez robbed a Metro bus driver early Monday and shot a driver last week. The driver who was shot is in serious condition but is stable and able to talk with his family, officials said. Police have not released a possible motive in the killings. Crane said there is nothing to indicate a connection between any of the victims. Gonzalez said the suspect has family members that live in the neighborhood where he was captured. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told reporters that authorities are trying to determine whether Rodriguez committed other crimes they don’t yet know about. He also said Harris County is looking to form a task force that would focus on parolees who had committed serious crimes. “We’ve got to up our game, because there’s not enough to deal with parolees,” he said. “But we’re going to change that.” CNN’s Jamiel Lynch and Lauren Leslie contributed to this report.