Three out of the six culprits convicted in Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña’s rapes and murders were executed. Meanwhile, the remaining three continue to serve their respective sentences in prison. The six individuals reportedly attacked Ertman and Peña, two high schoolers, one night in June 1993. The girls were returning home when the gang raped and strangled them in TC Jester Park, Houston.
Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña’s slaying remains one of the most horrific and notorious crimes in Houston. The case will now feature on Oxygen‘s Prosecuting Evil With Kelly Siegler. The all-new episode, titled “The Darkest of Nights,” airs on the channel on Saturday, December 30, 2023, at 8 p.m. ET.
The official synopsis for the upcoming episode reads, “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.”
Where are Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña’s killers now?
According to the Texas Department of Corrections, Venancio Medellin, the youngest of the six, is serving at the Polunsky Unit. Venancio received a 40-year prison sentence because he was only 14 years old at the time of the crime.
Fox 26 reported that in November 2020, state officials denied Venancio parole. Moreover, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said that they spared him “from a death sentence because of his age when he helped five other gang members rape, strangle, and stomp Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peńa to death.” Ogg also insisted that the convict “should spend every day of the rest of his sentence locked up for everyone’s sake.”
The outlet reported that two other convicts—Raul Villarreal and Efrain Perez—had their death sentences commuted. The two were both 17 at the time and are now serving life in prison with parole. Department of Corrections states that Efrain Perez is at the Wynne Unit and will be up for parole in October 2029. Meanwhile, Raul Villarreal is serving at the George Beto Unit and will also become eligible for parole in 2029.
Previously, Peter Anthony Cantu, who was allegedly the mastermind behind Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña’s murders, was executed. Cantu, alongside Derrick Sean O’Brien and Venancio Medellin’s older brother, Jose Medellin, had received the death penalty. They have since been executed.
CBS News reported that Ertman and Peña failed to return home on the night of June 24, 1994. The girls had taken a shortcut to reach the latter’s northwest Houston neighborhood. The gang spotted them while they were crossing a railroad bridge, and one of them grabbed Peña. Ertman unsuccessfully tried to help her friend. The gang members raped the girls for more than an hour and also forced them to perform oral sex.
The attackers kicked the teens, knocked their teeth out, pulled out their hair, and broke their ribs. Eventually, they used a red nylon belt to strangle Ertman with such force that the belt snapped. They then used shoelaces to strangle Peña. Authorities found their bodies in the same park.
Prosecuting Evil With Kelly Siegler airs with Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña’s murders on December 30, 2023.
