Police Re-Open Murder Case after 10 Years

Investigators re-testing DNA from case

PHARR - It's been nearly ten years since 19-year-old Jennifer Eva Roman was found dead inside her apartment.

A neighbor called police about a baby crying and his mother lying on the floor on May 11, 1998.

At the time, investigator Ruben Villescas told NEWSCHANNEL 5 reporters they didn't have much information about the woman who was violently murdered.

Leads quickly dried up, and the case was placed in the cold case files.

NEWSCHANNEL 5's Stephanie Stone went to the Justice of the Peace who held the records, read the autopsy report, and began retracing the crime.

We spoke with neighbors who knew the 19-year-old immigrant from Honduras. They say Roman and her baby boy had a rough life.

She worked at the Hall Acres Bar, not far from her apartment, and a babysitter watched over her young son.

After inquiries by NEWSCHANNEL 5, the Pharr Police Department began re-examining the evidence from 1998 with new equipment.

They retested DNA from the case and tell NEWSCHANNEL 5 it gave them promising new leads.

Justice of the Peace Rosa Trevino pronounced the girl dead. She remembers her young child, not even two years old. She wonders if he may have seen something.