Cold Case Spotlight
BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — In 1992, officers received a call about a body found along the banks of the Rio Grande.
Nearly 30 years later, the case remains unsolved.
On Oct. 26, 1992, the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office received information that there was a body buried along the banks of the Rio Grande in the area of FM 1419.
The next day, investigators found a shallow grave with the body of a man wrapped in a blue tarp. After forensic testing, the body was identified as 17-year-old Marcelino Velazco.
Velazco had previously been reported missing. He was last seen on Aug. 22, 1992, getting inside of a small, red two-door T-top vehicle at the 6000 block of Camelia Street in Brownsville.
The Sheriff’s Office said that there were two “unknown” men in the vehicle.
An autopsy revealed that Velazco was struck by a bullet in the upper spinal cord.
In a 1992 report by the Valley Morning Star, Cameron County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Ernesto Flores said the murder was “drug-related”, stating Velazco had been involved in trafficking.
Authorities said that the murder could have been connected to the slaying of three other men who were found on a Mexican ranch.
Previous reports revealed that the suspects tied Velazco with a heavy rope and that his remains had been clawed by animals roaming the area.
According to the Valley Morning Star’s report, Velazco’s mother told deputies that two men in Matamoros had confessed to the murder.
The two men, Victor Rivera, 19, and Heriberto Ortego Ruiz, were incarcerated for confessing to the murder of three Matamoros residents.
“I talked to Mexican authorities, and they said the men arrested never confessed to killing Velazco,” Flores said in the Valley Morning Star’s report.
Those with information are asked to contact the Cameron County Crime Stoppers at (956) 350-5551.
