Texas Rangers identify suspect in 2016 cold case murder of woman with 9 children

TEXAS - The Texas Rangers and the Laredo Police Department have identified the man believed to be responsible for the 2016 killing of 33-year-old Janette Escamilla Jaramillo, of Laredo. Almost a decade after Jaramillo’s death, a Webb Co. grand jury has indicted Sergio Mendez, 42.

2016 Cold Case

The backstory:

According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, Jaramillo, a mother of nine, left work around midnight and was on her way home, but she never made it.

Her body was discovered the next morning by Laredo Parks and Recreation Department employees. She was found under a skate ramp at Seven Flags Park, just blocks from her home. Jaramillo had been brutally strangled after an attempted sexual assault, troopers say.

During the investigation, troopers found surveillance video showing Jaramillo walking with an unidentified person about 30 minutes after she was last seen leaving work. The suspect was described as being tall with short, cropped hair and wearing a trash bag, likely due to rain that evening. Investigators say there was insufficient evidence to make any arrests in Jaramillo’s case.

Five years later, Jaramillo's case was identified as being eligible for the Texas Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) program. The program provides investigative funding for agencies across the United States to further unsolved sexual assaults and sexually related homicides with the hope of bringing justice to the victims and their families. 

SAKI grant funds were utilized for the cost of the Advanced DNA testing through Bode Technologies. The testing led to Mendez’s identity, troopers say, which was confirmed through normal forensic DNA testing.

Mendez was indicted by a Webb Co. grand jury on March 12, 2025. He is already serving a 10-year prison sentence in Edinburg for an unrelated crime and remains in custody.