Mom Finds Cheerleader Daughter Murdered In Her Own Bathroom 

Mom Finds Cheerleader Daughter Murdered In Her Own Bathroom 

Get out. Sheriff’s office location and emergency. Please come to my house. What’s your address? Okay. What’s going on? My daughter’s dead. My daughter’s dead. Okay, ma’am. How old is your daughter? She’s 15. She’s 16. Please help. Okay. Oh my god. Oh my gosh. No. No. Chaos and heartbreak in the city of Edna, Texas.

 December 5th, 2023 started out as a wholesome night as the town gathered for their annual Christmas parade. Around 5:22 p.m., Jacqueline Medina rushes home from work to quickly change her shoes before heading back out to catch her 16-year-old daughter, Elizabeth Medina, an Edna High School junior varsity cheerleader, in the parade.

 Jacqueline Medina excitedly waits on the perimeter of the parade route to catch a glimpse of her beautiful daughter. But as the cheerleaders walk by, Elizabeth is not with them. Medina waits until the last float goes by, but Elizabeth never shows. Around 6:47 p.m., Edna police are called to the apartment Elizabeth shares with her mother.

 Where’s she at? Where’s she at? Where’s she at? Where’s she at? Move, move, move, move, move, move, move, move, move. Where is she at? Back here. Move, move, move, move, move. Okay, we need you to come out here with us. I can’t. That’s my baby. I understand. I understand. We need to talk to you and find out what was going on.

 Medina has found her daughter in the bathtub wearing the shorts and t-shirt she usually sleeps in. She sees a small stab wound on Elizabeth’s stomach and she is stiff to the touch. You see that? You see that wound on her stomach? It’s a stab wound. Yeah. You see any knives or anything in there? No, it’s a homicide.

 Yeah. What was your traffic? Detain everybody outside. Okay. Mike, it’s a homicide in handcuffs. It’s okay. It’s a homicide. Yeah, it’s a stab wound. There you go. 16-year-old female approximate. Stab wounds to the chest. It’s a homicide at this point. When you got here, nobody was here.

 Nobody was here. Nobody at all. No. I walked in and I looked in her room and I was yelling her name like, “Liz, where are you?” And then I went into my room and I was sitting on the bed just calling their friends and calling people and nobody could tell me. I called the coach and she said she hasn’t seen her all day.

 And I was like, “Okay, well that doesn’t seem like that’s her. She would have called me if she was feeling sick. She would have texted me. She hadn’t called or texted me all day.” Her phone kept going to voicemail. And then I went into the restroom and I found her. Outside are Elizabeth’s two best friends and her boyfriend who had followed Medina home from the parade to help her look for Elizabeth.

 Okay. Do you know who notified her boyfriend that something happened? He’s outside, right? Yeah. The kids were out here. That’s That They’re already there. Yeah, cuz I called them. I was like, I need to go find Liz cuz I can’t find her and they and they know where she’s at at all times.

 They have a 360 app. So, I was like, I need to go find her and they showed up. see if he can get the boy cuz we don’t know where the phone’s at, but we can at least get a last location of the phone on that 360. Okay. An officer finds Elizabeth’s boyfriend and learns he had been worried when Elizabeth didn’t show up to school that day and wasn’t answering his texts.

 He checked their shared Life 360 app to track her location, but it didn’t indicate that she was at home. You all right? Her location’s on there, too. Where how do you see her location at 10:17 today? It’s County Road 406. Hold on, let me talk to you. At 10:17 a.m. It shows her location on County Road 406 and it’s not here. Okay.

 And that Hey, that was at 10:17 a.m. today. He messaged her at 7 something in the morning to no response. And then he messaged her at 11:13 with no response. Okay. So, she’s been here for a while. So, that 10:17 mark on that 360 app, we need to go try to find her. Yeah, I agree. Hoping the last location of Elizabeth’s phone may lead them to her killer, officers rush there, a house about half a mile away.

 Ready? Okay. 211. So, my stuff and 2011 are going to be making an entry. Secure the channel. Hold out traffic. Hold out traffic until advised. Police. Police. I’m going in here. Watch. Ready? Go. Police. Hold the hallway. Open door. Police. Hey. Uh, come in here. Come in here. Look at what’s in the closet. Okay, we need to find out if that’s his or what.

Moving out. We’re going to go across. Straight across. Release. Watch behind you. Watch behind that door behind you. Watch your six. Watch your six. Clearing. Clearing. Clearing. Clearing. Clearing. Clearing. Clearing. Clearing. Clearing. One more. Clear. The house is for sale and empty. There is no sign of Elizabeth’s phone.

The Texas Rangers join the investigation. Working together with Edna police and the Fet County Sheriff’s Office. Back at the apartment, when investigators inspect Elizabeth’s body, they see that Elizabeth has been stabbed multiple times. Yet, there is little blood throughout the rest of the apartment. Oh, hold on. Dang it.

 We got to take more pictures. I got more stab wounds on her shirt. Her shirt’s torn the hell up. A lot of stab wounds. And her shirt’s completely torn up with stab wounds. And she’s wet. She’s soaking wet. In her left hand, we also found that religious bracelet has since Catholic saint on it. The whole area in the lower bottom part of the shower curtain is covered in blood, too.

 Is she on shower curtain? She was not on shower curtain. Shower curtain was hanging out. It’s like she got rolled in the tub. There’s constant smears from the top crease all the way down to where she lays. To investigators, it looks like the killer placed Elizabeth into the tub, then turned on the shower in a possible attempt to hide evidence.

 Hoping a neighbor heard or saw something, officers begin checking with other units in the complex. And they’re in luck when they head to the apartment upstairs. The noise that I heard downstairs had to occur between 10 in the morning and noon. And I want to say it was closer to 10:00 and 11 because I heard in this area the very loud crash almost like I don’t know if something was falling or what the sound actually was, but I assume my very active child had knocked something over in the house.

 So, I jumped out of the bed. Um, were you able to, I think so. Um, I was able I jumped up out of the bed. I ran through my house to see nothing had been disturbed in my house. On my way back into my bedroom, I heard another crash in this same area. When I got back into my bedroom, I heard the shower in the master bedroom.

 I did not hear any screaming. My dog, as you see, he’s super alert. He didn’t do any random barking. Like he hears the slightest dogs walking through. He normally goes off. How long would you say the shower was on? Maybe about 15, no more than 20 minutes because I then got up and showered before I left.

 And um before I left to walk the dog. Tell me about your cameras. Okay. So, I have the camera on my balcony facing my car. The little blue Fiat out there is is my car. Um, so it faces that way. It shows people walking by. It shows vehicles going by. Before we came, it’s it’s the entire day. I have a SD card in the camera and you guys are welcome to it.

 Um, or I can send whatever. That would be perfect. Yeah. Can we go ahead and get that? Absolutely. And we can copy whatever and just give it back. Based on the neighbor’s statement, investigators begin to form the theory that Elizabeth was killed around 10:00 in the morning, the time her neighbor heard loud crashes and the shower running, and by her cell phone’s last known location registered at 10:17 a.m.

A follow-up conversation with Elizabeth’s mother, Jacqueline Medina, gives officers their first potential suspect. When you got here, was the door locked? No, it wasn’t locked. It wasn’t locked cuz I just walked right in. Is that uncommon for it to be unlocked or do you always have it locked? I always have it locked since they robbed us when they How long ago did Joe? A couple weeks ago they robbed us.

They took my watch. They took a bunch of stuff. I don’t know if maybe that’s what they were trying to do when they came in or I don’t know. I don’t know if there’s anything missing, but I was just worried sick because her friends were here. Nobody has seen her. Nobody has talked to her.

 So that worried me because they’re her best friends. Was when you were robbed, did you report it? Okay. How long ago was that? Couple weeks ago, maybe three weeks ago. Do you know the people who were involved? Can you identify them? No, I don’t know anybody because we we weren’t here with Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I got you.

 Yeah, we weren’t here. But there was just petty taken. They didn’t take the TV. They took her projector. They took my watch. They took just petty. Okay. Could the burglars have returned for another round happening upon Elizabeth homesick from school? 2 days later on December 7th, detectives get a look at the neighbor’s surveillance camera at 10:16 a.m.

 the morning of Elizabeth’s murder, just after Medina’s upstairs neighbor remembers hearing loud crashes followed by the shower turning on, a man is seen running from the building and getting into a Ford Taurus. Investigators show the man’s image to Medina, but she doesn’t recognize him. They take screenshots and put them out to the media.

 For 4 days, investigators speak with Elizabeth’s friends and family to figure out who might have wanted to harm Elizabeth. Leads come into Crimestoppers, but nothing pans out. On December 9th, Texas Ranger Brandt Johnston attends a vigil held for Elizabeth. While there, he overhears something very interesting that stops him in his tracks.

 Both a friend of Elizabeth’s and Elizabeth’s boyfriend have just received answers to text they sent to Elizabeth’s phone 4 days after she was killed. He asks both of them to come back to the station. Well, you said a couple days ago you had called her uh was it Tuesday night after everything had happened and it went straight to a voicemail.

 Okay. And then uh you haven’t called her since? No, I haven’t called her since. But until today I texted her and they said okay and then I called her and it ran. What time did you text today? Um I text her at 6:16 and they responded back at 6:17 with okay. And what did you text her? I had said I hugged your mom today.

 I hugged your mom today. And would you be willing to text right now? Yeah. Um say like, “Yeah, what’s up? What are you doing?” However, that be like, “Wait, you want to go to the gym?” Yeah. Cuz they all were gym partners. It says delivered. This is weird as it is. I don’t think the phone has been missing for a while.

 Yeah. Yeah. But see, if the person had her phone, they wouldn’t know her password. So, you think they would have took out her SIM card? Can’t they break the password? We can’t. Y’all can. Regular citizen can’t. But then who has her phone? They would have to take out the SIM card and put in a different phone, right? You try to call? Yeah.

 You want me to try to call her? If it does answer. What does she say? She’s calling you right now. No, I’m calling her. Elizabeth, let’s go to the gym. Yeah, it’s activated. Call back one more time and just stay silent. Okay, just give it a little bit. Just be like, “Hey, what’s up? Your call has been forwarded to an automatic.

 I definitely see if we can get a pin on it. After speaking with Elizabeth’s friend, they bring in her boyfriend. I text her. Where’s my text? Um, I text her this. I said, cuz they said they said like text her real quick just to see if she replies. I said, Liz, I miss you. And they said, not me.

 I was like, and then right after I said not me, I called her and we and they were all like, record, record, right? Hello. Let me let me restart it for y’all. Hello. Who is this? Somebody answered and then my dad called me right after and they hung up. Okay. Was that Yeah. the suspect. Now believing the killer may still have Elizabeth’s phone and it wasn’t discarded as they’d first thought, investigators request an emergency disclosure to get the location of her phone. At 7:06 p.m., AT&T responds that

the phone is pinging at a location in Schulenberg, Texas, an hour away. A task force made up of the Texas Rangers, Edna Police, and the Fet County Sheriff’s Office head to the house in Schulenberg. When they get there, they find a silver Ford Taurus parked in front like the one seen leaving Elizabeth’s apartment.

 They run the plates and the car comes back to 23-year-old Raphael Goa Romero. When they run his name, they see he has a prior history of burglary on a building a year before. Knowing Jacquine and Elizabeth’s apartment had been burglarized just 3 weeks before Elizabeth’s murder, investigators sense they’re on the right path with Romero.

Um, hey, so we’re investigating a crime that happened and we think you may have some information that can help us out. Would you be willing to talk to us for a little bit? Uh, I believe. You just speak a little bit English? Yeah, just a little bit. Yeah. Okay. Anybody translate? Not 100%. They find a translator and learn that a mother, father, and their three kids live in the house, including Raphael.

Can we look around just to make sure we’re safe? Hello, state police. Hi. Hi. They do a quick search of the home to make sure no one else is hiding. There you go. Thank you. Gracias. Satisfied, they gather everyone in the living room. Can we turn this light on, sir? So, we’re investigating a crime that took place and we want to talk to your brother.

Did you ask him if he would be willing to talk to you? He’s not under arrest, but would you come down to the police department and talk to him? for is we’re looking for some evidence, some property that came from somebody’s house. And one of the things is a cell phone. Would he be willing to let us look around and search his room for that object? Yeah.

 Are you recording? Yes. Yes, you would. Yeah. Okay. Do you have a cell phone? No, we have order one and one. Do you have that one? Yeah. Okay. It’s old. It’s this one. Okay. So, he has this one and he has an older one that he had for a long time. Is it okay if they go in there and look for that other phone? Yes, it’s okay. Okay, thank you.

 As one officer begins searching Romero’s room, another calls Elizabeth’s phone number. They hear a ring coming from Romero’s brother’s room. Where? Which one is it? This one right here. Where’ this phone come from? No, that’s my old phone. That’s your phone? Yeah, that’s my old phone.

 How long have you had almost like two years. Two years. Does it work? Yeah. So, is that the phone you use? You call people with? No, I guess that’s my Okay. That’s just for games. That was just for games. Yeah. Okay. Can you open it up for me? Yeah. Show me it. Is it unlocked? Yeah.

 I just found it. You just found it? Yeah. Where’d you find it at? My brother gave it to me. Okay. It was like long time ago. What’s your name? Leo. Leo. Okay. When did your brother give you that phone? Today. Today. Yeah. Okay. And so, have you been using it? Today? No. Like, when did he give it to you today? Tonight, early this morning? Like maybe 4 4:00? Yeah.

 Okay. And you turned it on, started using it? Yeah. Have you been texting people? No. No. You sure? Yeah. Like a lot of textes. See And what are those people you talk to? Yep. No. Can I see it? Yeah. Go ahead. Okay. Just got done with the gym. I miss you. Good morning.

 I hugged your mom today. Did you send that? Okay. Want to go to the gym? Okay. Hey, what time did you get that? It said four. Yeah. Four. Your brother gave it to you. Yeah. Which brother? Oh, him. Yeah. He indicates Raphael in the next room. And it’s not my phone number. It’s not your phone number. No. Okay.

So, you just got this phone. It hadn’t been your phone for a long time. Yeah. Right. You just got it today at 4:00. Yeah. Okay. And you got it from your brother. Yeah. Okay. I was just making sure. Then they ask Romero about the phone and get a different answer. Hey, Brent, bring him back here with the sister, would you, please? Where did this phone come from? Mhm. This my brother.

 Okay. It’s your brothers. Yeah. You sure about that? What? Are you sure about that? My sister. Okay. That’s the older brother. That’s what my older brother. It’s your older brother’s phone. My mother’s brother. Oh, okay. Well, he said he got it from you and you said he got it from the other brother.

 So, who’s lying here? Just tell me the truth where the phone came from. It says that she found it and she gave it to me. Oh, okay. All right. So, when you were cleaning up the house, you found it. Okay, that sounds good. All right, man. Well, we’re going to give you a ride. You said you’d still come down and talk to us at the police department. Okay.

 And maybe you can help us out with some questions we got for you, and we’ll have somebody there that can speak Spanish. Sound good? The phone is not Elizabeth’s. So, the detectives suspect Romero took the SIM card out of her phone and put it in the phone he gave his brother. Texas Ranger Brandt Johnston drives Romero back to the police station while other officers continue to search his room.

 The evidence begins to pile up. Detectives find dozens of pairs of women’s underwear under a pillow in Romero’s room and hidden in his closet. They find two journals as well as the same sweatshirt the suspect was seen wearing. The jacket. There it is. We got the shoes. We got the sweater. Maybe the pants. Let’s see if that phone’s anywhere here.

You think they took out the SIM card and put it in a different phone? Yeah. See what they did. Then they make the biggest find of all. Elizabeth’s phone. That’s it. Right here. That one is in her picture. Yeah, I have a picture of her. We’re holding. Yeah, right here. At the station, Ranger Brandt Johnston gets word of the discovery as he’s interviewing Raphael Romero.

 Hey, Raphael. Did something happen this week that you need to tell us about? You sure nothing happened that you feel like you need to tell us about it? No. No. You sure? Sure. I’m going to ask you one time. Sure. You don’t know that girl? Okay. That girl, that’s her SIM card that you put in that phone.

Now, I don’t think you wanted anything to happen to her. And I think you feel bad about it. I can’t put words in your mouth. You got to tell us what happened. If you’re sorry about what happened to her, just tell us what happened. Someone saw you running from inside that house. Why were you inside? He said he didn’t enter any apartments.

 Okay. What happened to that girl? Tell me. Just tell me what happened. Okay. He said the reason why he ran is cuz he found the phone on top of the car and when he got it, he just took off running. I don’t think you’re a bad guy, man. The only thing that makes it worse than actually doing it is to lie about it.

 To lie, lie, lie, lie. When we started this off, you hadn’t been to the apartment complex. Now you’ve been to the apartment complex. No, that’s not that’s your phone. Okay, I got the phone. It’s one lie after another. Somebody that’s innocent doesn’t lie. They tell the truth. Back at Romero’s house, investigators can’t believe the mountain of evidence they uncover in a vent in his room, including different devices that may be the same ones stolen from Jaclyn Medina and Elizabeth’s apartment 3 weeks earlier, as well as many other items

that appear to be stolen. They begin to worry Elizabeth is not his only victim. Man, a real bad duty. Buried deep in the vent is Elizabeth’s wallet. When Ranger Johnston hears this back at the police station, he ramps up the pressure on Romero. Finally, he begins to talk. He said he went over there.

 He knocked on the door and asked this girl where he can buy drugs. Where does that come from? He says that he thought she was very pretty and told her and wanted to get her phone number and she said no and he got very angry and he’s not sure what happened after that. Okay.

 Do you remember hitting her? Did y’all fight? He says, “You know, this sounds crazy.” He goes, “But after I got mad, I don’t really remember what happened.” Why did you kill her? You need to tell me. Okay. Hey, most important, very important. All I remember is getting angry. That’s I don’t know why I did it. I’m not sure why I did it. 

 I don’t know why I did it. I’m not that type of person. Okay. He said once he left the apartment, he got in his car and he drove about 10 miles and he just pulled over because he had to like what just happened? What do you think should happen to you? If someone killed your sister, what would happen to them? He said they need to pay just like I

need to pay. Hey Rafael. Uh you are under arrest for murder. Stop. Okay. The ranger places Raphael Goa Romero under arrest on murder charges. When they translate his journal, they find a list of what was taken from Jacquine and Elizabeth’s apartment on November 13th and evidence that he liked to steal women’s underwear.

 Some excerpts read, “I really want new thongs with a fresh odor. How I’m craving some new thongs from a slender woman. I was about to break a window to break into a house because I saw a short and tasty girl exit. The stupidest thing is my objective was not to steal things of value, but first look for underwear or dirty thongs and afterwards see what I could find.

 And I have the keys to the apartment. I will return and put a camera in so I can see them naked. 3 days later on December 12th, they drive Romero to Elizabeth’s apartment to try to jog his memory of what exactly happened that day. When they get there, he tells them that he had knocked on the door looking for drugs and Elizabeth had let him in.

 When he asked her about the drugs and she told him to come inside, how did she tell you to come inside? Just wait for your hand. Okay. Did she walk backwards when you waved? When she waved about two, three steps. Okay. They head inside the apartment and walk him room by room where he repeats his story that he told Elizabeth she was pretty.

 Asked for her number and got angry when she said no. After that, he claims he doesn’t remember what happened. Did you ever go into this bedroom? He says he remembers this a little bit. What do you remember about it? Okay. And what about this bathroom? This is where Elizabeth Medina was lying dead. He said he just remembered her being laying in the tub with the water on.

 Okay. Did you turn the water on after she was after you put her in here? He doesn’t remember. Okay. Did you stab her while she was inside the tub? He doesn’t remember. They tried to figure out what is going on in Romero’s mind being back at the scene of his crime. How do you feel being inside of here? He feels bad. He feels sad.

 Frustratingly for investigators, Romero continues to say he doesn’t remember what happened. And he never tells them why he chose Elizabeth’s apartment that day, an hour away from his house. They take him back to the station for another interview to ask him about all of the women’s underwear, devices, and stolen property like house keys they found in his room.

Hey, why do you have Yeah, I say fantasies. Yeah, fantasies of smelling underwear. Yeah, you like to smell underwear. Okay. Where did that come from? When did you start liking the smell fanties? Mexico. He’s been doing it since he’s not living in Mexico. Romero finally admits to breaking into Jacqueline and Elizabeth’s apartment on November 13th and says he went back on December 5th looking to steal more underwear.

 In September 2025, Raphael Goa Romero pleaded guilty to the murder of Elizabeth Medina as well as aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and burglary of a habitation. He receives two life sentences plus an additional 20 years. Though Elizabeth’s mother, Jacquine, now knows who took her precious daughter from her, she may never learn why this man turned his evil eye in their direction.