BROOKSHIRE, Texas – A confidential informant is credited with a break in the case of a pregnant Houston woman who vanished five years ago.
Senovia Medina was 37 years old when she was last seen alive on January 5, 2006.
Her boyfriend, Miguel Antonio Martinez, now admits he killed her, according to HPD homicide detective J.J. Wilson.
Martinez first confessed his role in Medina’s death to the informant, who was wearing a wire when he went to the suspect’s home, according to Wilson.
"We decided to go ahead and wire him up and see if our suspect would talk, which he did," Wilson said.
Only KHOU 11 News was there Friday when law enforcement officers from several agencies searched that southwest Harris County home and removed several items -- including, police said, a magazine with an article entitled "Murder in Six Easy Steps." They arrested Martinez on a weapons charge after finding illegal silencers.
"It looked like someone was getting ready to take out Osama bin Laden is what it looked like from all the gun power, the way they were dressed helmets, flak jackets -- we knew they meant business,” said Simon Guajardo, a neighbor.
Sgt. Wilson said Martinez then confessed that he "accidentally" killed Medina during an argument. He told investigators he hit Martinez after she got out of the shower, and she fell and broke her neck.
Medina said he wrapped her in garbage bags and tape and dumped her in a field in Waller County.
Last week, investigators took Martinez to a field on Woods Road. They returned Tuesday to search the area and found some small bones. It’s not clear if the bones are human or animal.
Texas EquuSearch and law officers from HPD, Waller County, Brookshire and the Texas Rangers will return to the area Wednesday to continue the search.
Medina left her mother’s house the day she disappeared and was supposed to be heading home, but she never made it.
Martinez claimed he found her SUV abandoned a few days later. Police said the vehicle was found on a route that Medina would not have taken, and the license plates had been removed.
Ever since she vanished, her friends and family have been begging for answers.
"We pray to God every day for somebody to give us an answer," her brother said in 2006.
"I thought something bad must have happened to her, because she wouldn’t let her sister or her mother suffer without knowing anything," real estate agent and friend Norma Pereira said.
In a court appearance on the weapons charge Monday, a judge set bond for Martinez at $500,000. He has not been charged in Medina’s death.
But police believe they know why Medina was killed. Martinez has claimed that the baby she was carrying wasn’t his.
"He says, ‘Yes, she was pregnant, but it wasn’t my baby.’ He always puts that disclaimer at the end of his statements," Wilson said. "I believe that he’s a self-serving man who just wants it his way, and that was his motive in this."
