Jocelyn Nungaray family member urges border shutdown at 12-year-old’s funeral after she was ‘killed by illegal migrants’
HOUSTON — Hundreds of mourners packed two overflow rooms at a Houston funeral home to say goodbye on Thursday to Jocelyn Nungaray — the 12-year-old who was allegedly brutalized and murdered by two illegal migrants.
Among those were family members who admitted their views on the border and immigration changed forever after Jocelyn was found strangled and bound in a bayou.
“I used to feel bad for the immigrants, but ever since this happened it’s made me change my mind about who to let in and who not to let in,” Christine Nunez, a cousin of Jocelyn’s grandmother, told The Post outside Earthman Resthaven Funeral Home and Cemetery.
“I can’t say all of them are bad — there’s good people, but they need to close the borders and not let everybody in, and look at each individual.”
Nunez added: “She had a whole future ahead of her, she was bubbly and fun, she didn’t follow nobody. She was her own person.”
Another mourner, local resident Tyrone Jones, insisted that the government must do a better job of screening migrants before they’re allowed into the US.
“It’s so sad that somebody had to lose their life over something, it’s just unbelievable,” he said.
Members of Joselyn’s large extended family, teachers and students from her school and community members who were deeply moved by her horrifying murder turned out for the funeral service.
Following the ceremony, her little casket was carried in a white horse-drawn hearse to the cemetery for an intimate burial.
Follow along with The Post's reporting on Jocelyn Nungaray's murder
- The illegal Venezuelan migrants accused of murdering Jocelyn Nungaray in Houston lured the 12-year-old girl under a bridge, where they stripped her naked to the waist and assaulted her for two hours, disturbing new court documents allege.
- Both Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel and Franklin Jose Peña Ramos were seen on surveillance video entering a 7-Eleven with Jocelyn the night she was killed and before the two walked her to a bridge, where her body was later found half-naked and strangled.
- Peña, 26, and Martinez-Rangel, 21, allegedly bound Jocelyn’s hands behind her back during the brutal assault, then strangled her and dumped her body in a bayou.
- Department of Homeland Security sources said Peña crossed into El Paso, Texas, on May 28. He was released soon after his interaction with border agents.
- Jocelyn fought back against her attackers after she was lured under the bridge and assaulted — leaving scratch and bite marks on one of the illegal migrants who is accused of killing her.
- Peña was given an ankle monitor when he was released into the US after being caught at the border in May, according to Homeland Security sources. He reportedly cut off the monitor after Jocelyn’s body was found.
- Republicans slammed the White House for its “pathetic” and “shameful” statements on the killings of Jocelyn and Maryland mother of five Rachel Morin — which never mentioned they were murdered by illegal immigrants
Dozens of white doves were released overhead. Loved ones held each other with tears in their eyes as her casket was slowly lowered into the ground.
Afterward, a large group gathered at Gallery Furniture store, whose owner — a local furniture tycoon known as Mattress Mac – paid for the funeral. Jocelyn’s favorite music played while her mother, Alexis, greeted members of the community as they signed a banner sharing their prayers for the girl.
Those who knew her remembered her for being bright and outgoing.
“She was very energetic. When you’d see her she made others laugh, she always spoke. She was just a happy girl,” said January Revada, who was Jocelyn’s middle school academic adviser.
A secretary at the school, Erie Benson, remembered Jocelyn as “a very sweet girl” and a hardworking student.
“She cared a lot about her studies. She had friends. She was very nice,” Benson said.
Jocelyn was killed some time on the night of June 16 after she snuck out of her house and allegedly encountered 26-year-old Franklin Jose Peña Ramos and 21-year-old Johan Jose Rangel-Martinez, two migrants from Venezuela who had illegally crossed into the US earlier this year and were released by Border Patrol agents.
Pena and Rangel-Martinez are being held on $10 million bail, charged with capital murder.
