The family of a North Texas woman found stabbed to death in a Dallas apartment is demanding answers, alleging police failed to act swiftly despite repeated pleas for help.
Olivia Rodriguez, 30, was discovered dead on June 2 in an apartment on Forest Lane, more than a week after her family reported her missing.
Judy Garza, Rodriguez’s mother, described her daughter as “the happy person, always making everybody laugh, everywhere she went, that girl made friends.”
But Garza said her daughter’s trusting nature may have led to her tragic end.
“And that was the issue, everywhere she went, she made friends, she trusted everybody,” Garza said in an interview with NBC 5 DFW.
According to her family, Rodriguez had been living with Teray Montrell Sam, 33, at his apartment on Forest Lane for over a month. She last contacted her family on May 24. When she missed her daughter’s birthday on May 27, Garza knew something was wrong.
“She never misses her daughter’s birthday, never,” Garza said.
Garza said she reported Rodriguez missing to Dallas police and provided them with her daughter’s cell phone location, which pointed to Sam’s apartment.
“No calls, no text messages, I knew something was wrong, but nobody would listen to me,” Garza said, per NBC 5. “Had they listened to me, this could have been a whole different situation.”
After days of persistence, Garza arranged for Sam to allow Dallas police into his apartment for a wellness check on June 2. From the hallway, Garza said she could smell a decomposing body.
“I kept telling them, her body is in there,” she said. “He killed her, I know he killed her.”
According to an arrest affidavit, officers entered the apartment and found Rodriguez’s body on the living room floor, surrounded by blankets and other items. The affidavit stated she had been stabbed multiple times and was in an “advanced state of decomposition,” indicating she had been dead for several days. Investigators noted a large amount of blood in the apartment’s sink and shower, and Sam appeared to have a knife wound on his hand.
Sam was arrested and charged with murder. He is being held in the Dallas County Jail on a $1 million bond.
Garza expressed frustration with the police response, believing officers should have entered the apartment sooner.
“Y’all failed her; had y’all listened to me, it could have been a different story,” Garza said. “We’ll never know now.”
Garza also shared chilling details about a package Rodriguez left her, which included a phone case and the address of Sam’s apartment.
“And she had left my daughter an envelope, almost like it was a sign, saying, hey, I bought this phone case for your phone. See if it fits. And it had the address,” Garza said, per Fox 4 KDFW.
Addressing Sam, Garza had a pointed message: “I want him to rot in prison. He deserves to feel the same pain she felt because her body was by the door. She could have been trying to get help, and didn’t even make it out the door.”
The Dallas Police Department is reviewing requests for additional details about the case. The investigation remains ongoing.