Police have arrested a suspect in the killing of a 16-year-old high school cheerleader in Texas, who was found dead in her bathtub by her mother last week.
The Edna Police Department said the suspect, identified as Rafael Romero, was found in the city of Schulenburg, Texas — about an hour away from the small city of Edna where Lizbeth Medina was found dead.
Romero was arrested by police and Texas Rangers on Saturday and charged with capital murder, meaning he could face the death penalty if convicted. Police said he is being held at the Jackson County Jail.
Medina was a cheerleader at Edna High School who was aspiring to become a nurse, a family member told NBC News.
According to a GoFundMe page created by Medina’s aunt for funeral expenses, which has not been independently verified by Scripps News, Medina was an only child and was born and raised in Grand Island, Nebraska and had only been living in Texas for a year. She was very close to her grandparents and had several cousins.
Police were called to her home at Cottonwood Apartments around 7 p.m. on Dec. 5, where she was found unresponsive and ultimately pronounced dead. Family members told multiple outlets she was found in her bathtub.
The teen's cause of death has not been released to the public at this time.
Police have not said how old the suspect is or what his relationship to the victim might be.
