Prosecuting Evil With Kelly Siegler on Oxygen will revisit the horrific Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña murders from 1993. The episode, titled “The Darkest of Nights,” airs on the channel this Saturday, December 30, 2023, at 8 p.m. ET.
The official synopsis states, “When two girls are heinously murdered, Houston acknowledges they have a gang problem. Kelly Siegler joins the prosecution of an unprecedented five death penalty trials in this shocking case that changed the rights for victims’ families.”
Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña were returning home one night in June 1993 when a gang attacked them. Ertman was 14 years old at the time, while Peña was 16. They both attended Waltrip High School in Houston. According to CBS News, police reported that the girls were victims of gang rape and that the culprits had strangled them to death. The case, one of the most notorious in Houston history, resulted in the convictions of six people involved.
Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña murders explored
CBS reported that Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña were returning home on the night of June 24, 1993. They took a shortcut home to Peña’s northwest Houston neighborhood when a gang spotted them while they were crossing a railroad bridge. The gang reportedly drank beer and initiated a new member when one of them grabbed Peña. Ertman turned back and went to help her friend after hearing her screams.
The outlet confirmed that police reported the culprits gang raped Ertman and Peña for over an hour and forced them to perform oral sex. They also kicked the high schoolers, knocked their teeth out, pulled out their hair, and broke their ribs. They used a red nylon belt to strangle Ertman’s neck and used shoelaces to kill Peña similarly. The attacks took place in TC Jester Park, and a tip led authorities to the girls’ bodies.
Peter Anthony Cantu, then 18, was the mastermind who orchestrated Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña rapes and murders. Authorities also linked him and Derrick Sean O’Brien to a killing six months before the attack on Ertman and Peña. They allegedly raped and eviscerated a 27-year-old woman. Other members involved in the slayings were brothers Venancio Medellin and Jose Medellin, Raul Villarreal, and Efrain Perez.
According to Fox 26, Cantu, O’Brien, and Jose Medellin received the death penalty for their heinous crimes, leading to their executions. Meanwhile, Venancio Medellin received a 40-year prison sentence. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said that he “was spared from a death sentence because of his age.” However, Ogg insisted that “he should spend every day of the rest of his sentence locked up for everyone’s sake.”
The outlet reported that Venancio, who was 14 at the time of the crime, received his sentence under juvenile guidelines. The convicted is now 41 and has served 27 years of his term. At first, Villarreal and Perez also got the death sentence. However, the duo had their punishment commuted to life in prison because they were both 17 when they committed the crime. KHOU 11 stated that this also implies that they are eligible for parole.
However, Elizabeth Peña’s father, Adolph, believes that the remaining culprits “should have also been executed.” The KHOU report stated that Adolph also spoke of the executions, calling it “the happiest day of my life.” He said that the three “deserved it” for killing his daughter.
Prosecuting Evil With Kelly Siegler’s episode on Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña’s murders airs on Saturday, December 30, 2023.
