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Like most teenagers, Felicia Ruiz was fired up about going to a Halloween party. It was late, about 11 o'clock on that Friday night by the time the 17-year-old finished her shift at KFC and walked through the front door of her parents' house in north Houston.

As she entered, the phone was already ringing. It was Jesus Salazar, a gang member whom Ruiz had befriended at Eisenhower Senior High School. Salazar had spoken to Ruiz that afternoon, urging her to go to the party, and now he was calling again to double-check she was still going.

She was.

Excited, Ruiz quickly changed out of her work clothes into a pair of khaki pants, black Nike sneakers and a black T-shirt with "Don't Ask Me Shit" written across the chest. She popped two plastic breast enhancers into her bra, tied her hair with a navy blue piece of elastic and was ready to party.

Ruiz's parents, Carrie and Lou, were hesitant to let their only daughter go out. After all, it was late, but Felicia assured them everything would be okay and that she would not stay out all night. All she wanted was to hang out with her friends for a little while.

Just before midnight, Ruiz and her parents heard someone out front honking a car horn. Carrie Ruiz decided to walk her daughter to the car.

"You gonna be all right?" she asked her daughter, recognizing Salazar and noticing a stranger sitting in the passenger seat of the burgundy Honda hatchback.

"Mom, I'll be fine," Felicia responded, slinging her arm around her mother's shoulder and giving her a little hug.

Just before Felicia disappeared into the backseat, she popped her head up over the roof of the car just to assure her mother one last time.

"I love you, Mom," she said.

And then they were gone.

Felicia did not know exactly where the party was, but she trusted Salazar despite his nickname "Trouble." Salazar drove them less than three miles from Ruiz's home to the Quail Creek Apartments where he lived and paid the stranger $20 — ten of which he borrowed from Felicia — for letting him use the car. As the stranger drove off, Salazar walked Ruiz toward the rear of the complex, through a gate, down the street and out into a vacant field.

It was unusually humid that night — even by Houston standards — as the two teens made their way across the grassy lot. Ruiz did not notice as Salazar began to lag a step or two behind. Off in the distance, Ruiz saw a familiar figure — it was Salazar's ex-girlfriend Lisa Huerta — standing next to a boy she did not recognize.

This was not the party she was ­expecting.

Suddenly, Salazar stepped forward and cracked Ruiz across the jaw with his fist. She never saw it coming. The blow shattered the bones in Ruiz's face, literally knocking the size 0, 112-pound girl off her feet.

Huerta and the other boy, Jay Ferrel, ran over to where Ruiz lay while Salazar barked out orders for them to hold Ruiz down. Huerta had already opened her folding buck knife, a gift from Salazar that she carried around in her purse and used to slice open cheap cigars before filling them with ­marijuana.

Ferrel straddled Ruiz's legs to keep her from kicking while Huerta hovered over her and pressed the blade against their victim's neck just as she and Salazar had rehearsed in a motel room earlier that day.

"I pushed it in," Huerta later testified in court. But the knife got "stuck."

Salazar then grabbed the dagger from Huerta's hand and began driving it into Ruiz's torso, some thrusts so powerful the knife ran completely through the slender girl into the dirt.

Fighting for her life, Ruiz struggled in vain to defend herself.

"Trouble, why are you doing this to me?" Ruiz managed to gasp in her baby voice.

Salazar did not respond and Huerta covered Ruiz's mouth to muffle her screams. According to Huerta, Ruiz's last word on earth was "Sorry."

After what seemed like forever, Salazar, now covered in blood, stopped and turned away.

But when he saw Ruiz was still alive and trying to turn over, Salazar returned and finished the job, knifing Ruiz several more times in her back. In all, he and Huerta stabbed Ruiz 26 times; they ­severed her jugular vein and punctured her heart and lungs.

Finally, when Ruiz could no longer move at all, Salazar, Huerta and Ferrel turned their back on Ruiz for the final time, leaving her all alone in the grass, bleeding to death.

Now, more than eight years later, both Huerta and Ferrel are serving lengthy prison sentences and have told police that Salazar was the ringleader. But Salazar has evaded any punishment.

A native of Venezuela, Salazar fled the United States to his home country shortly after the murder, and police believe he is still living there today. In Venezuela, Salazar is free, going to parties, dating girls and bragging about getting away with murder, according to what Carrie Ruiz says the FBI told her.

But Felicia Ruiz's parents are fighting to change that.

Despite frosty international relations between the United States and Venezuela and a political minefield of extradition issues, Venezuelan authorities have agreed in principle to send Salazar back to Houston to face murder charges.

The main catch, though, is that Venezuela wants written assurances from Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal that his office will not seek a sentence greater than 30 years in prison for the charge of murder and that Salazar will be prosecuted within ten years of the crime, both of which are in accordance with Venezuelan law.

And Rosenthal does not want to agree to that. Rather than set a precedent of accepting a reduced possible punishment, the Harris County DA would rather sit this one out.

Write Your Comment show comments (14)

  1. This is a tradgedy that allows these illegal alien criminals to commit crimes in the US and flee prosecution. Jesus Salazar is the new poster child for illegal alien criminals and the sanctuary city policy. He is a product of the sanctuary city policy by the city of Houston.

    Salazar is the murdering swine and the city of Houston is the enabler.

    Shame on you Mayor Bil. Your lame policy enabled this murderer to commit his heinous act and flee prosecution. Some of the guilt is yours.

    Comment by A — January 3, 2008 @ 08:49AM

  2. May the parents get what their due/want. What I don't understand is why a picture of this young lady would show a 'gang sign'.

    Comment by bond — January 3, 2008 @ 11:15AM

  3. Yea tacky photo of the girl but whether a gang sign or not the sick bastard that killed her should just be allowed to come here freely and let the parents of the girl take care of business...Rosenthal is a coward for not fighting to get this typical coward (gangmember) back here.

    Comment by Jim — January 4, 2008 @ 12:31PM

  4. It does not appear it is a Mayor Bill White policy. It is the DA who is choosing not to make the deal. The article states that the Mayors Assistant on Crime who has been helping in this case wants the DA to make the deal.

    Comment by Scott — January 4, 2008 @ 03:33PM

  5. The other two murderers were not illegal, scum lives everywhere, how about that. It's Rosenthal who won't budge.

    Very sad situation. Is there some kind of petition or letters that we can send to the DA? I hope that the parents get some kind of peace.

    Comment by Flores — January 4, 2008 @ 11:27PM

  6. Maybe, if Mayor Bill did not have a sanctuary policy, Mr Salazar would have committed his crime elsewhere. When you set out cheese, don't be surprised when the rats appear!!!

    A

    Comment by A — January 7, 2008 @ 10:59AM

  7. Mr. Rosenthal has seemingly been too buried in his emails and has lost his damned head. He is the district attorney, charged with seeking justice on behalf of the citizens of this city... on behalf of, not in place of. His first commitment should *always* be to us, not his ego, his resume or his warped sense of what is right. His narrow-mindedness and inability to see past lethal injection is causing the Ruiz family just as much pain as their daughter's senseless murder.

    He should be disgusted in himself, and quite frankly, so should anyone who voted him into office.

    Comment by B — January 7, 2008 @ 01:24PM

  8. I have so much stuff! What do I do with all of it?

    These were the exact questions I was asking myself until I heard of this new service named Grand Slam Garage Sales. They’re fantastic! They run the whole garage sale hassle free. All there workers arrive on time, in uniform, and ready to work hard. GSGS sets up the sale on Friday, runs the entire sale on Saturday, and the best part; everything that isn’t sold in the sale is taken to goodwill! They charge a very reasonable base price of $450, considering they do it all, guarantee at least $50 to the customer, and normally make over $800 in a sale (meaning hundreds to the customer). Also, they offer 2 other services including the “Clean Sweep Item Removal Service” and the “Pinch Hit Pressure Washing.”

    The garage sale they did for me generated $1,326 and I stayed inside watching TV during the sale and went over to a friend’s house! They really did it ALL…

    Go to www.GrandSlamGarageSales.com and check it out for yourself!

    Comment by Michelle Jones — January 14, 2008 @ 06:45PM

  9. Just another example of why our cheating, racist, egotistical DA needs to be replaced. We can blame sanctuary laws all we want to. However, justice is what our DA should be after not trying to get only lethal injection convictions, and not having his supporters crying about sanctuary laws. If there is a way to bring a killer to justice and have him serve 30 years, that makes this city and all other cities that much safer for at least 30 years. Rosenthal is a coward and I am glad to see the truth about this fraud coming out piece by piece. One of these days the great people that reside in our great and diverse city will open their eyes and stop allowing scum like Rosenthal to hold important offices of power.

    Comment by JB — January 20, 2008 @ 11:43AM

  10. I have very mixed emotions about this story. Written at a time when Rosenthal has been exposed as a real jerk, I still have to agree that 30 years is a slap on the wrist for the crime that was committed. This is tragic on many, many levels. There is no negating or diminishing the truth of a heinous crime and a young girl's senseless murder. So many disturbing factors - the picture with the gang sign, the quote about her (at the age of 16) having already been dating for two years... and not a WORD of sorrow from the parents about their son, Jason's prison sentence for aggravated assault? My heart aches for this family, but despite the mother's involvement NOW in victims' organizations, she and the father seem excellent examples of lax parenting and their children the victims of no parental discipline. I hate to say that, but it's true. I hope that Mr & Mrs Ruiz find time to give some of their time, care and energy to their son. His age wasn't even mentioned, but surely he's young enough to still need his parents - as we all do no matter the age.

    Comment by What a Shame — January 24, 2008 @ 12:42PM

  11. OK everyone.... for one that WAS NOT A GANG SIGN Felicia was showing..... It was LOVE YOU.... How dare you people say that is a gang sign she was pictured with. As one on her best friends, I know for a fact that Carrie Ruiz implemented disipline on her children. Felicia was respectful,honest,humble,and outgoing,and helped anyone in need. Even if that means coming home from a long day at work and getting a call from a friend saying she is way way across town needs a ride to the hospital. Felicia WILL ASK NO QUESTIONS and find a way to get there and assist.... See what these blogs say are only partial true... and are giving false,and negative impressions. Felicia was brutally killed out of Jealousy(Huerta), and because she refused to join a gang.I miss my best friend to this day.

    Comment by Isabel — February 22, 2008 @ 08:45AM

  12. OK everyone.... for one that WAS NOT A GANG SIGN Felicia was showing..... It was LOVE YOU.... How dare you people say that is a gang sign she was pictured with. As one on her best friends, I know for a fact that Carrie Ruiz implemented disipline on her children. Felicia was respectful,honest,humble,and outgoing,and helped anyone in need. Even if that means coming home from a long day at work and getting a call from a friend saying she is way way across town needs a ride to the hospital. Felicia WILL ASK NO QUESTIONS and find a way to get there and assist.... See what these blogs say are only partial true... and are giving false,and negative impressions. Felicia was brutally killed out of Jealousy(Huerta), and because she refused to join a gang.I miss my best friend to this day.

    Comment by Isabel — February 22, 2008 @ 08:58AM

  13. to familia ruiz
    i known yall 4 a few years an ur beautiful loving daughter is always in my heart an tattood on me. i miss her every day an wish i was around more as felicia wanted me to b.felicia an i always talk an i knew of ex's.because i was one of them but we still kept it close. mrs. ruiz i still remember that night u called me asking me to find felicia. an i went out lookin 4 her to. then d next i was at ur house.i love felicia an always will.my heart goes out to u an family an i wish an hope justice gets done with that fool "trouble maker" i to know him an he used to live with me back in mid 90's.so this situation is hard on me 2.felicia is my ex an trouble was a ex friend of mine. carrie i cant say i know what u goin through but i 2 wanted to hurt someone so i confronted d latin kings that trouble was affiliated with.i wanted to die 2 i guess.ive been in an out of prison hopin trouble would of been caught an end up in d texas pinta.just got out an my mother watch d news alot an told me to watch d news an felicia is on it an i cry.mrs.ruiz i used to call u mom 2. im so sorry that it turn out this way.felicia was a good girl.an will b missed.i just want to say ur not alone an we all hopin justice gets done. damn ... i miss felicia a-k-a "la baby".dont give up an have faith. love yall,L.M Jr.a-k-a "puppet" SW-O.G

    Comment by louisito medina jr — February 24, 2008 @ 09:14AM

  14. I just want to clear up one fact on here. Jay Ferrel was not a member of the W.43rd St. Crips.

    Comment by R.Ferrel — March 6, 2008 @ 08:41AM

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