{"id":14808,"date":"2026-07-23T16:42:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T11:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=14808"},"modified":"2026-07-23T16:42:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T11:42:26","slug":"dna-leads-to-arrest-of-mayra-velasquez-in-2012-texas-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=14808","title":{"rendered":"DNA leads to arrest of Mayra Velasquez in 2012 Texas murder"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-56243a\" class=\"body-graf\">For 14 years, the brutal killing of Irasema Chavez, who was stabbed more than 100 times in her Texas apartment in 2012, has remained a mystery. <\/p>\n<p><button class=\"styles_subscriptionCTA__LOUeY\" id=\"subscriptionCTA\" type=\"button\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,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\" alt=\"NBC News Icon\" class=\"styles_icon__wRwWv\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"styles_textWrapper__vxvko\">\n<p class=\"styles_text__daaVB styles_textLarge__qlzwu\">Subscribe to read this story ad-free<\/p>\n<p class=\"styles_text__daaVB\">Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/rockcms\/2026-01\/arrow-f55fa5.svg\" alt=\"arrow\" class=\"styles_arrow__tnruW\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/button><\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-84bd88\" class=\"body-graf\">After years of investigation and holding on to hope, authorities identified the suspect as Mayra Velasquez, 42, a friend of Chavez\u2019s, the Arlington Police Department and the FBI announced at a news conference Wednesday. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-866d42\" class=\"body-graf\">Velasquez was arrested Thursday on a warrant charging her with capital murder. A motive in the stabbing remains unclear, police said. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-c636cc\" class=\"body-graf\">Authorities said a suspect was identified through investigative genetic genealogy, a process that uses unidentified crime scene DNA, genealogical research and historical records to identify unknown DNA. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-2abef6\" class=\"body-graf\">Chavez, 32, was found in her apartment, unresponsive and covered in blood, on Jan. 20, 2012. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-0dd224\" class=\"body-graf\">She was declared dead at the scene, police said. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office determined she had been stabbed more than 100 times, police said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__FvnTh styles_medium__MEKii styles_portrait__NEQhG\" id=\"anchor-0a353c\"><picture class=\"styles_image__i32F7\" data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"fit\" data-original-height=\"2096\" data-original-width=\"1572\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260722-Irasema-Chavez-ew-532p-e1f171.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260722-Irasema-Chavez-ew-532p-e1f171.jpg 1x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260722-Irasema-Chavez-ew-532p-e1f171.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260722-Irasema-Chavez-ew-532p-e1f171.jpg 1x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260722-Irasema-Chavez-ew-532p-e1f171.jpg\" alt=\"Irasema Chavez.\" height=\"2096\" width=\"1572\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__TCewG\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">Irasema Chavez.<\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">Arlington Police Department<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"anchor-132aed\" class=\"body-graf\">Missing from her apartment was a TV, which investigators believed the suspect took.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-4f4510\" class=\"body-graf\">Investigators collected a droplet of fresh blood on the bedroom television stand. The sample was sent to a crime lab for DNA analysis and was determined not to belong to Chavez but to an unknown Hispanic female.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-ccb363\" class=\"body-graf\">The DNA profile was uploaded into the FBI\u2019s Combined DNA Index System, a national database to compare DNA profiles in criminal investigations, but there was no match.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-a861f9\" class=\"body-graf\">In November 2024, the Arlington police homicide unit met with the FBI Dallas field office about using investigative genetic genealogy to crack the case.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-c0b902\" class=\"body-graf\">In April, the FBI\u2019s investigative genetic genealogy team identified a potential suspect \u2014 Velasquez.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-2240d7\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cMs. Velasquez was at one time a close friend of Ms. Chavez and lived just a few miles away from the crime scene,\u201d police said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arlingtontx.gov\/News-Articles\/2026\/July\/Arlington-PD-Makes-Arrest-in-2012-Murder-Case?fbclid=IwY2xjawTN_rJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFvVEpxYWtPVjg3d1VvRjV1c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHmuP9Fupt5XJEScViKRqJSygdbjDi_SdEwTl6_GqQB7ieSYsTHTK1jBDdYzE_aem_7653p8U1KiBfa7h7YUKAfQ\" target=\"_blank\">news release<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-eb2d7d\" class=\"body-graf\">Velasquez had been in Chavez\u2019s apartment before, Arlington Police Detective Tracey Dixon told reporters.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-93e2a4\" class=\"body-graf\">Dixon said Chavez\u2019s cellphone has been a \u201cvaluable source of information about their relationship\u201d but declined to go into further detail. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-9900fa\" class=\"body-graf\">The following month, detectives obtained a sample of Velasquez\u2019s DNA from discarded trash, sent it to a crime lab for further analysis and found it was a match to the blood droplet from Chavez\u2019s murder scene.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-cbe36a\" class=\"body-graf\">Velasquez was arrested in the nearby city of Hurst and eventually transferred to the Tarrant County Jail, where she is being held without bond, according to online booking records. It\u2019s not immediately clear whether she has an attorney.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-75c97f\" class=\"body-graf\">Velasquez has an active sales agent license in the state, according to Texas Real Estate Commission records. No one answered at a number listed for a real estate company believed to be her employer. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-0f3854\" class=\"body-graf\">For the family, the news was a sigh of relief after so many agonizing years. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-8b372b\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cBeing able to share that with the family is why we do this work,\u201d Dixon said, tearing up. \u201cThey were very grateful. It was emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-110555\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">Joe Rothrock, the special agent in charge of the FBI Dallas field office, praised investigative genetic genealogy as \u201cone of the most valuable tools law enforcement has today.\u201d Since 2018, the FBI has used it to solve more than 250 cases across 30 states, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For 14 years, the brutal killing of Irasema Chavez, who was stabbed more than 100 times in her Texas apartment in 2012, has remained a mystery. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. After years of investigation and holding on to hope, authorities identified the suspect as&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260722-Irasema-Chavez-ew-532p-e1f171.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}