Venus Rodriguez, the 16-year-old whose body was found in Oak Cliff riddled with bullets last week, was laid to rest on Wednesday.
The man accused of killing Rodriguez, 22-year-old Arturo Flores, was booked into the county jail in Dallas on Saturday, The Dallas Morning News (DMN) reported. His bail is set at $500,000.
Court records say Flores appeared “indifferent” and without emotion when police discussed Rodriguez’s death. He told detectives he only knew Rodriguez was missing, but not that her body had been found, according to the DMN.
Flores’ attorney said his client looks forward to his day in court.
Dallas police discovered Rodriguez’s body in Oak Cliff Creek on Thursday, as reported by The Dallas Express. According to Dallas Police Department officials, she died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Her body was found inside a blue and white blanket, according to the DMN. Rodriguez’s body had likely been in the creek for days before being found.
A GoFundMe account set up for the family to assist with funeral costs raised $3,200 and was closed before Rodriguez was laid to rest on Tuesday.
The Dallas Express reached out for comment to the victim’s family, the Dallas Police Department, and the County Attorney’s Office, but no responses were returned.
Rodriguez was identified via fingerprints the day after her body was found. Her family told detectives she was dating Flores, with whom she ran away in September.
Police examined the blanket for a connection and found a social media post of a dog on the same blanket in December. Flores was the only one who could have accessed the blanket in his house, less than 400 feet from the creek.
A neighbor saw Flores chasing Rodriguez down the street and hitting her in a driveway weeks before she died. Flores’ mother told police the couple often fought.
Flores told police he had last seen her on January 6.
“Interestingly, both the suspect’s parents were already aware that [Rodriguez] had been found murdered,” police wrote in the affidavit.
The affidavit stated that Flores’ walls and carpet in his room had been cleaned of blood. On January 12, a neighbor saw Flores put a mattress in a truck and drive away.
In the affidavit, police said they are still processing a lot of evidence, including two phones and DNA swabs from Flores’ room and two handguns found in his brother’s car Saturday when the brother was pulled over leaving the house, DMN reported.
DPD has requested that anyone who knows anything additional about the shooting contact Detective Jeffrey Loeb at (214)-671-3702 or [email protected]
Rodriguez’s body was found in the 1700 block of Brookhaven Drive, which is located in District 1, represented by Councilmember Chad West, who was named The Dallas Express’ Crime Boss of the Month four different times in 2022.
Dallas has had a deadly start to the year, as high rates of murder and other crimes persist. Dallas police have reported 20 murders and non-negligent homicides thus far this year, which exceeds the 18 that were reported from January to this point last year.
A total of 214 murders and non-negligent homicides were reported in Dallas last year.