Harris County Sheriff’s Office(HOUSTON) — A parolee who cut off his ankle monitor is now wanted in connection to a series of murders in the Houston area, police said.
Jose Gilberto Rodriguez, 46, is a suspect in at least three slayings in the last week, with police calling him a “possible serial killer” at a press conference Monday night.
Rodriguez may be responsible for at least five attacks in the area, three of which resulted in shooting deaths, police said.
The first attack, on July 9, was a home-invasion robbery where the victim survived.
Four days later, Pamela Johnson, 62, was found dead inside her home in northwest Harris County, police said in a news release. Her car, a 2004 Chrysler PT Cruiser, was stolen from her home and found abandoned the next day at nearby Willowbrook Mall.
When investigators reviewed surveillance video from the mall, they observed the suspect, later identified as Rodriguez, park the car and leave the scene.
On Saturday, a second murder occurred at a mattress store in Houston, police said. The third murder was at another mattress store in the area on Sunday.
On Monday morning, a transit driver was robbed and shot but is expected to survive, police said.
Rodriguez should be considered armed and dangerous, said police, who warned the public not to approach him.
“The sooner we can get him into custody, the sooner we can all breath better,” Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said at the press conference.
Rodriguez is about 5-foot-7, 135 pounds with a thin build, black hair and tattoos on both forearms. He was last seen in a 2017 dark gray Nissan Sentra with Texas license plate K-P-D-2-8-0-5.
Rodriguez was last spotted in the Houston area, and may be going into neighborhoods and knocking on doors, pretending he’s looking for somebody, police said.
Anyone with information should call the Harris County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Unit at 713-274-9100.
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