Joshua Ray Juarez
Posted on 12/16/2006 6:09:57 AM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
Joshua Ray Juarez
A 17-year-old Kingwood man has confessed to stabbing his next-door neighbors to death after the daughter and her elderly mother repeatedly complained about his pit bull puppy, the Houston Police Department said. Joshua Ray Juarez was charged with capital murder Friday in the deaths of 53-year-old Deborah Maloney, and her mother, Lucy Maloney, 83, who were found slain in their Kingwood home in the 3100 block of Silver Falls on Wednesday afternoon by police. After being taken into custody, authorities said the teen told investigators he and the daughter had ongoing problems concerning his pit bull puppy running loose in the neighborhood.
Juarez told investigators his dog entered the Maloneys' backyard on the day of the slayings. He then knocked on their door and was given permission by Deborah Maloney to get his dog, authorities said. After doing so, Juarez told investigators, he went back inside the Maloney home. That's when Juarez and the daughter began to argue about the dog, police said. Juarez told police he stabbed Deborah Maloney with a kitchen knife he carried at all times for protection. Lucy Maloney was stabbed to death after she walked out of her room to check on her daughter, said Sgt. Adolfo Carrillo with HPD's homicide division. After the killings he drove away in the older woman's 1993 Pontiac, authorities said.
The vehicle was recovered about 5 p.m. the same day at an apartment complex about 3 1/2 miles from the Maloneys' home. Police began conducting surveillance on Juarez's home after they received information from residents of the apartment complex. Police said the suspect's friends also confirmed he confessed to taking the car. With circumstantial evidence mounting, Juarez was arrested Thursday afternoon and taken in for questioning. Authorities said he was on his way to play basketball with friends. Students at Kingwood High School, where Juarez attended until late August, said they believed the teen was attracted to gangs and violence. "He would always say, 'I'm bringing the hood to Kingwood' and would try to intimidate people. It worked," said a senior at Kingwood, who asked not be identified. "When he would walk down the halls we would all stay away. Scary guy."
Juarez, like many teens, has a page on the popular My- Space Web site. One posting on the site expresses an interest in the disposal of dead bodies, stabbing people and robbing banks. His page prominently features rapper Tupac Shakur with a tattoo reading "thug life." Shakur died in a gang-related shooting. Although police said the teen confessed to killing the two women during an argument about his dog, stunned and frightened neighbors found it hard to believe two lives could be taken over something so trivial. The Juarez family moved to the quiet, tree-lined street in central Kingwood from the Aldine area about 18 months ago, a neighbor said.
"They were such nice people," said one woman, gesturing to the Maloney home. "I never thought that something like this could happen here. This is a nice neighborhood, with nice people. ... He killed them for no reason." Many were simply grief-stricken Friday over the violence that had erupted on their street this week. "We are all very concerned about the double homicide," said Ronald McLeland, 54, a longtime resident. "All of us are just kind of shocked because it's really a very quiet neighborhood," he said. "This is extremely unusual for this neighborhood." He added that many in the neighborhood wouldn't even lock their doors when they were at home, but that everyone is now being far more cautious. "I think we're all just a little more street smart right now," McLeland said. Juarez is being held in Harris County Jail without bail.
I lived in another big Houston suburb, Sugar Land, from '92 until '02, when I moved back to Missouri. Kingwood is like Sugar Land, mainly newer, expensive subdivisions that were rice fields not very long ago.
Kingwood is also where the famous girl convenience-store robbers made their bones a few years back.
Kids with hard-working parents and too much time on their hands.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/04/13/48hours/main183640.shtml
That is a bit of an over generalization. Most of my in laws came over illegally over 20 years ago. They are for the most part secular but they are now tax paying, property owning law abiding, legal citizens. While they do have large families, most of their children have graduated from college and good people. They accepted me as one of the family and I think they are wonderful. To address your other point though, I grew up near Kingwood and have indeed seen what you are describing first hand. Unfortunately the worst 10% of any population is unfortunately what many base their opinions on.
Like puppy, like owner.
i grew up there. Kingwood was once described as a place that is so whitebread that brunettes feel out of place. I'm sure it has changes some now that Houston annexed it, but most likely this family is not typical of that particular neighborhood of Kingwood.
When I worked in Kingwood 7 years ago, it was a quiet, upscale neighborhood - to say the least, not "diverse" back then. What a shame to read about what this piece of human debris did.
Moral equivalency between man and beast is pathetic. The beast should'a been killed and then the dog shot.
Either we are equal or we are not. Good people ought to be armed where they will, with wits and guns. KMA NRA Merry Christmas.
Kingwood is a upper middle class master planned community north of Houston. It's a far cry from "the hood".
Del City, OK, has an ordinance against owning pit bulls. My ex-girlfriend (and others in the neighborhood) had repeatedly reported one of their neighbors to animal control and the police because they had 2 pitbulls, and they were often running around the neighborhood. Nothing was done by the authorities, and one day, her cat got out (she stopped letting him outside when she found out about the dogs: The neighborhood has very few trees) and was promptly killed by the dogs.
Mark
(And before you New Caney people get mad, I can't really talk too much seeing as though I grew up in Conroe.)
:)
It's what I like about Texas - - they just get rid of animals like this.
I've heard people say the same thing, and nothing gets done until someone says, "I don't feel safe walking in my neighborhood, so I'll be carrying a shotgun with me for protection." Usually that will get results, and if not, you can take care of the problem yourself ("It came right at me!")
Mark
Looks like he has Frankenstein electrodes on his neck. I hope this monster meets the same fate.
Kill them. Seriously. If not with a gun, then with poisoned food.
Don't use that sort of language around here, again.
AM
Our unelected overlords in black robes ruled 5-4 last year that animals like this cannot be gotten rid of, they are constitutionally entitled to a long life in prison and a peaceful death of natural causes.
True. I am wondering how long it is going to take the people of the U.S. who are law-abiding to demand that law enforcement be allowed to crush criminals or rise up and change things to a system where they can be crushed. One more mark on the wall...
Monstrous breed, monstrous owner. And no, Kingwood isn't just 'a hood.'
"Unfortunately the worst 10% of any population is unfortunately what many base their opinions on."
Exactly. And it seems to go for breeds of dogs too. People remember, the pit bull is in the story to make it more readable, but the dog had nothing to do with this. This is about some unstable person killing someone, and no difference in race or breed of dog would have changed the outcome.
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