Pure Murder

by Corey Mitchell

  Webb eventually discovered a pair of medium-size Lee denim blue jeans, which presumably belonged to the woman. The blue jeans were located behind another fence, dozens of yards away from the body, behind some shrubs and trees in some brush. The left leg of the blue jeans had been turned inside out and there appeared to be bloodstains on them.

  Webb also discovered two forms of identification that confirmed who lay on the ground next to the parking lot in Melrose Park. One was a Texas driver’s license and the other was a Texas identification card. There were also several other items located next to the identification cards, including slips of paper, lottery tickets, and some brand-new tampons. They appeared to come from the victim’s purse and were strewn about near her body.

  As Webb continued to document the murder scene, he spotted something next to the fence. It was a used tampon, which had been removed from the victim and tossed aside.

  Webb also noticed five Budweiser beer cans clustered next to the corpse, including one directly under her right knee. The crime scene technician bagged and tagged the cans in hopes they might contain usable fingerprints.

  All of the crime scene evidence was collected and sent off to Homicide for inspection and testing.

  Officials then removed the body of the victim. When her corpse was lifted up, Webb spotted a belt underneath, located where her neck had been. He gathered this, too.

  Webb took a look at the Texas driver’s license. The victim was Lourdes Patricia Lopez.

  The corpse had a name.

  Upon later inspection, Lopez’s white shirt was found to have three large holes in the back. It appeared as if she had been stabbed at least three times in the back. Furthermore, her bra had definitely been sliced in the front. The bra had still been latched in the back so her attacker must have been straddling her and slit it from the front or the attacker may have stood in front of her and sliced it.

  Lopez’s leather jacket also had three holes in the back. She had been stabbed through both her jacket and shirt.

  The belt found under Lopez’s neck matched the belt used to strangle Jennifer Ertman less than six months later.

  Webb returned to the crime scene eight hours later to photograph the location in the daylight for better reference points.

  Nearly four hours later, Webb was ordered to photograph the area where Patricia Lopez’s automobile had been discovered. The detective drove two blocks northeast to Hopper Road, at the corner of Foxridge Drive.

  Webb documented the 1986 gray Chevrolet Cavalier driven by Patricia Lopez the night before. It appeared as if it had been pulled off to the side of the road. Webb photographed the location of the abandoned vehicle, as well as the interior and exterior of the car.

  A police officer contacted Joe Lopez, Patricia’s estranged husband. He and his mother took off for the park as soon as they heard. They lived right down the street and were there in no time at all.

  “There was so much blood,” Cathy Lopez reported. “Blood on the ground, on a post to keep cars out. And there were beer cans everywhere. Budweiser beer cans were all over, like it was some kind of big party.”

  Joe Lopez spoke with some of the detectives at the scene. They asked him to go downtown with them to discuss what happened with his wife. He agreed and met with detectives at the Houston Police Department headquarters. He was shocked when detectives began to question him about his whereabouts and about his relationship with his wife. Officers kept Joe Lopez at the station for several hours.

  Cathy Lopez began to worry about her son. When she later found out police had suspected him in the murder of Patricia Lopez, she was shocked. “He had no idea they would think he had done it,” the concerned mother recalled. “They kept him for hours, and the kids were so upset and needed him here.”

  Eventually the police determined Joe Lopez had no involvement in the murder of his former wife. He was released, and they suggested he be available for them. “After that,” his mother stated, “we kept in touch with the police for a while, but there just didn’t seem to be any clues.”

  When the Lopez family was informed by the police that three of the confessed killers from the Elizabeth Pena and Jennifer Ertman murders were involved, they were flabbergasted. “Oh, my God! Cantu? That animal?” Cathy Lopez uttered in disbelief when she heard Peter Cantu’s name mentioned.

  “We always felt more than one person killed her,” Patricia Lopez’s mother-in-law stated. “She was very strong. She would have fought.”

  A good friend of Patricia’s, Rebecca Delgado, bemoaned her friend’s fate, as well as her last several months alive. “Patricia was lost. She and her mother had a real bad relationship,” she sadly recalled. “She had a hard life and she never really seemed to get past it.” Delgado dabbed away tears as she said, “She was human. Sometimes she’d feel real bad about herself and her kids and she’d decide to straighten up and do right.”

  According to Cathy Lopez, Patricia had been on drugs for quite some time. It was the reason why she and her husband, Joe, were estranged and why he had custody of their two children. “Most of her problems stemmed from drugs, but she could be a sweet person when she wasn’t using them. She liked to do things for people. She wanted to be liked.”

  Delgado added that her friend would no longer have that chance. “She may have, someday. But they didn’t give her that chance, did they?”

  Cathy Lopez shed tears as she added, “What it comes down to is, nobody deserves what she and those other girls got, do they? Do they?”

  According to the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office, Patricia Lopez was not a large woman. She stood only five feet three-and-a-half inches tall and weighed around 130 pounds. She wore her black hair long down the back.

  Lopez had been stabbed three times deep in her back. The wounds measured more than four inches in length.

  Also, her throat had been slit from the right side to the left. There was also a single stab wound to the neck. It was determined from the depth of the wounds that the instrument used was probably a knife at least four inches long. The stab wound was considered fatal, as it penetrated Lopez’s larynx, or voice box, “through and through,” or all the way through, the left common carotid artery, and the jugular vein located on her left side. It measured one-and-one-sixteenth inches in length and had gaped open to approximately three-sixteenth of an inch.

  The throat slice only cut soft tissue and muscle and, therefore, was not considered to be fatal. It did, however, measure three inches in length and had a gap of one inch in width. The depth of the slice was three-sixteenth of an inch.

  More glaringly, Lopez had also been stabbed at least four-and-one-half inches deep on the left side of her stomach. The stab wound pierced the abdomen and a portion of her small intestine. The stab was so deep that it severed the psoas muscle, or the back muscle. The abdomen stabbing also pierced the mesentery, which is vital because it carries several blood vessels inside. The wound was three inches long and one-and-a-half inches wide. The blow would have been considered fatal as well, as it could bleed excessively.

  Harris County medical examiner Dr. Vladimir Parungao explained that it was not unusual for a person’s intestines to spill out of a person’s body after they have suffered a large stab wound to the abdomen. “If the wound is big enough, because there is a tendency for the inside, the gut, to produce some air when people die, even when they get stabbed,” the medical examiner explained. “Some people at the time they are stabbed, their belly comes out and they try to put it back inside while still alive. That is not so unusual.”

  As for the three stab wounds to Lopez’s back, Dr. Parungao determined two of the inflictions were considered fatal “because they involved vital organs inside the body.” The organs that were struck and pierced were the left and right lungs and the spleen. The killer stabbed her so hard that the weapon sliced through her seventh rib bone. Each stab wound was approximately four-and-a-half inches deep and the spleen had been stabbed “through and through.” Accordi
ng to Dr. Parungao, the wounds “varied from one to one-and-a-half inches in length and gaped up to three-sixteenth to one-quarter inch in width.”

  The third stab wound was not fatal because “it had struck bone.”

  Dr. Parungao was able to determine the direction of the stab wounds as “back to front, downward, slightly to the left, backward down toward.” He stated that it was consistent with a person standing over the victim and stabbing her.

  Dr. Parungao also discovered needle track marks on Patricia Lopez’s arms. According to the doctor, the deceased had been shooting up methadone, a drug commonly used to combat addiction to heroin. The doctor located the drug within her bloodstream and measured the amount at 0.8 milligrams per liter. He did not find any fresh needle marks. He did, however, measure her blood alcohol content level at 0.133 percent, or approximately . 033 percent over the legal limit of .10 percent (it was lowered to .08 percent in 1999) for being considered intoxicated in the state of Texas.

  The victim’s hands were also marred with red contusions, usually a sign of defensive wounds. Patricia Lopez fought for her life.

  Chapter 38

  Monday, April 4, 1994—10:00 A.M.

  Harris County Courthouse Annex

  184th District Court—room 514

  Preston Street

  Houston, Texas

  Connie Williams, who resembled a younger version of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, stood before his client, Sean O’Brien, and also before Judge Bob Burdette. Next to him at the defense table sat the nattily dressed Steven Greenlee. Across the aisle at the prosecution table were assistant district attorneys Steve Baldassano and Jeannine Barr, both young, thin, dark-haired go-getters.

  Williams was pleading with Judge Burdette to have his client’s trial relocated due to what he believed to be excessive media saturation.

  “Judge, at this time we ask the court to excuse this jury panel for the reasons we believe that this community, as well as the panel, has become saturated with the facts in and surrounding this case,” Williams requested.

  The attorney proceeded to present research to the judge that he believed would back up his claim. After speaking with 212 individuals in voir dire, the defense stated that 98 percent of them had heard of the murders of Elizabeth Pena and Jennifer Ertman. Of those 212, seventy-five of them were disqualified due to their predetermined opinions on the guilt or innocence of the defendant.

  Williams also introduced four new newspaper articles from the Houston Chronicle that had been published since the selection of the jury. Two of the articles contained a photograph of Sean O’Brien. Williams also pointed out twelve of the thirteen jurors that had been selected were familiar with Peter Cantu’s case. He also mentioned five of the thirteen jurors knew of the name Sean O’Brien. Williams believed he had a strong case for change of venue.

  Williams also argued he heard information that one of the jurors saw or read something about the case either on television or in the newspaper. This was enough to force Judge Burdette to question each juror as to whether or not the individual had been exposed to coverage of the O’Brien trial.

  The first ten jurors had not been exposed to anything about O’Brien’s case.

  The eleventh juror, Claude Brister, informed the judge he did have some exposure. He claimed he came home to a message a friend left on his answering machine stating he read O’Brien might be involved in the murder of Patricia Lopez.

  The final two jurors reported they had no exposure to the case.

  Williams reiterated to the judge the entire panel should be tossed due to Brister’s exposure. The corpulent, white-haired, black-robed judge agreed to dismiss Brister; however, he would not remove the entire panel.

  The trial of the State of Texas versus Sean O’Brien began one hour later.

  After the reading of the charges, the state opened up with ADA Steve Baldassano. The prosecutor spoke in a reverent tone. “This case is about the story of the untimely death of two young girls. It’s a story about their last hour of life. It is also the story about the defendant and his friends and about how they had a good time for an hour.”

  Baldassano recalled the scene of the two groups of friends: the girls by the swimming pool and the boys at their own party on the railroad tracks. He laid out the various routes one could travel to cross over White Oak Bayou. He detailed how the two girls unwittingly chose the route where the boys were hanging out.

  Baldassano briefly described the attack. Adolph and Melissa Pena cringed as they heard the descriptions one more time. The members of the gallery seemed to flinch as the prosecutor described, in grim detail, what O’Brien and the other boys did to Elizabeth and Jennifer.

  He spoke of how the girls screamed and pleaded for their lives.

  He described how O’Brien participated in the strangling of Jennifer.

  Baldassano summed up his opening by explaining, “The judge said that those who do the blamin’ have to do the provin’. We are fixin’ to do the provin’ right now.”

  Judge Burdette acknowledged the prosecutor, “Thank you, sir.” He then glanced over to the defense table and Connie Williams. “Mr. Williams, anything from you?”

  “Nothing at this time, Your Honor,” the attorney declined.

  Instead of allowing the state to begin its case, Judge Burdette broke for lunch. A rather anticlimactic beginning to the second trial in one of Houston’s most brutal homicide cases. The judge, however, had a reason for the move. He asked the jury members and attorneys to stay seated and informed them that because there were no longer any more alternate jurors, he was going to sequester the jury during the entire trial. Burdette informed the jurors they could eat lunch, make phone calls to arrange to have someone bring them several days’ worth of clothes, and be prepared to stick around.

  “If we lose one more juror,” Burdette reasoned, “all of this work and all of this time will be for naught.”

  The jurors did not seem particularly pleased to hear the news.

  Judge Burdette added the jurors needed to return, take care of their clothing situation, and be prepared to be shipped off in a van together to a nearby hotel. The judge then informed them that the evidence portion of the case would not begin until the following day.

  At that point, the prosecutors did not look so thrilled, either.

  Tuesday, April 5, 1994—10:00 A.M.

  Harris County Courthouse Annex

  184th District Court—room 514

  Preston Street

  Houston, Texas

  Judge Burdette’s courtroom was substantially smaller than Judge Harmon’s courtroom, where Peter Cantu was tried and convicted in February. While Harmon’s courtroom held over three hundred spectators, Judge Burdette’s courtroom listed a maximum occupancy on the courtroom door at 108 people.

  Needless to say, the courtroom was packed.

  The courtroom itself was rather antiseptic: white walls, brown pew seats, four large windows with black venetian blinds drawn.

  The judge’s bench was located in the back right corner of the courtroom. The jury box was across the small room to the judge’s right-hand side.

  In front of Judge Burdette resided the defendant.

  Sean O’Brien, dressed in black slacks, a royal blue sweater over a white oxford, and wearing studious-looking glasses, sat at the right end of the horizontal-lengthwise wooden defense table. He absentmindedly tugged at his miniature goatee, which had recently sprouted.

  Directly behind him, in between O’Brien and the gallery, sat defense attorney Connie Williams. Steven Greenlee sat next to Williams and to O’Brien’s left.

  To the defense’s left sat prosecutors Steve Baldassano and Jeannine Barr.

  The state’s attorneys decided to kick off the testimony from an emotional angle. The first witness for the state was Sandra Ertman. Mrs. Ertman, dressed in an aquamarine business suit, recalled her daughter growing up, how she was modest, and that her daughter had never had sex. She also described exactly what clothes her
daughter was wearing the night she was murdered. She spoke of how she and her husband became worried when they could not reach the Penas, and how none of the girls’ friends knew where they were. A distraught Sandra also recalled how much pain her husband suffered during the days of Jennifer’s suspected disappearance.

  The state also called up Gina Escamilla, Jennifer and Elizabeth’s good friend. The teenager spoke of how the girls’ spent their time together the night they went missing. She also spoke of the last time she saw her two friends alive.

  Next up for the prosecution was Houston patrol officer Mike Cromwell, who was the first officer at the scene. He was followed by crime scene investigator Brian Horowitz. Both witnesses laid out the gruesome details of the murder scene for the jury. The descriptions were illustrated by several crime scene photos of the two girls. Some of the jurors were taken aback by the grim nature of the discovery.

  The afternoon session of the trial started off with Houston police officer Todd Miller, who described his arrest of O’Brien, as well as detailing the youth’s confession to the double rape and murder.

  Miller’s testimony was followed by Frank Sandoval and then Yuni Medellin.

  Sandoval appeared nervous on the stand as he contradicted himself repeatedly and went back and forth on whether or not he believed Peter Cantu was the leader of the group. The defense’s strategy was to try and convince the jury that the boys belonged to a gang, with Cantu as their leader, and that their client, O’Brien, was merely following Cantu’s orders—thereby alleviating some of his responsibilities in the rapes and murders.

  Yuni Medellin appeared in court, again represented by his own attorney, Esmerelda Pena-Garcia, who had been appointed by the 113th District Court to represent him in juvenile court. Pena-Garcia informed the court her client was under his own free will to testify or not. She also reiterated no deals had been struck to benefit her client and he was simply there to do the right thing.