Boyfriend dismembers missing mother’s body with chainsaw, Texas police say
The body of a mother who went missing in Texas last May was likely dismembered by her boyfriend with a chainsaw, police say.
No one has seen Maria Jimenez-Rodriguez since June 21, 2018, in Houston when she dropped her daughter off with a babysitter and headed to work, KTRK reported. The 29-year-old paralegal never showed up.
Co-workers told investigators they began receiving “bizarre” text messages from Jimenez’s phone explaining that she’d be late, though the text messages didn’t seem like they came from Jimenez, according to the news outlet.
Jimenez’s sister ultimately reported her missing after calling OnStar to track her car, KHOU reported. The car was tracked to Port Street, but Jimenez was nowhere to be found, according to the outlet.
When questioned by police, Erik Arceneaux told investigators he hadn’t seen Jimenez, but that the two were a couple, KRIV reported. But friends and family told a different story. They say Arceneaux, a physical trainer, had become obsessed with Jimenez and was stalking her despite Jimenez being uninterested in a romantic relationship, according to the outlet.
A month after her disappearance, police got a court order to search Arceneaux’s and Jimenez’s phones, KHOU reported. Data indicated the two phones were together near Arceneaux’s home for several hours on the day Jimenez disappeared, according to the outlet.
Later that day, the phones were pinged together at a Home Depot where Arceneaux was captured on surveillance video buying a chainsaw and trash bags, police say.
Investigators say they believe Arceneaux used the chainsaw and trash bags to dispose of her body.
In October 2018, police searched Arceneaux’s home and found “drops of blood” on the wall but weren’t able to determined whether the blood belonged to Jimenez, KRIV reported. Her body has not been found.
Arceneaux was charged in Jimenez’s death in August, but police have not been able to locate him, KTRK reported.
Arceneaux has a history of violence against women, pleading guilty in 2011 to holding a gun to the head of a woman he was dating, according to the news outlet.