HOUSTON – A 17-year-old has been charged with murdering a grandmother outside of her Memorial area apartment while allegedly stealing her car in February.
Police say Owen Leonardo Vilanova-Ardon was arrested Tuesday. He was charged with capital murder and was denied bond by a judge on Wednesday.
It happened on Feb. 14 at Yorkchester Drive and St. Mary’s Lane. According to officers, the suspect shot the victim, Judy Walters, 65, in the morning while children in the neighborhood were getting on the school bus.
Investigators said the suspect is one of two men who also pulled the victim from her SUV, then ran her over with her car and took off from the west Houston apartment complex. Hours later, surveillance video captured a Mitsubishi SUV jumping a curb and driving on the lot of an Alief-area business.
Police told KPRC 2 they don’t believe this was a random act of violence. Investigators released surveillance video showing two young men in black bandanas pacing around the complex all night long leading up to the morning attack. One month later, Vilanova-Ardon was taken into custody.
KPRC 2 found an evading arrest charge on the suspect’s record from 2022.
Police have not said if they have located or identified the second suspect in this case.
Anyone with information on the identity or whereabouts of the second suspect is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at (713) 308-3600 or speak anonymously with Crime Stoppers at (713) 222-TIPS.
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