‘Justice will be served’: Brownsville community reflects on 2003 child murders ahead of Rubio execution
Brownsville, TX (KRGV) — Convicted Brownsville child killer John Allen Rubio is set to be executed sometime Thursday evening in Huntsville, over 23 years after he killed and beheaded his three children.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed John Allen Rubio's latest legal challenge and the Board of Pardons and Paroles denied his clemency request ahead of his planned execution.
Rubio's attorneys could still make another attempt at the last minute to stop the execution, but plans to make another request for a stay of execution were not announced as of Wednesday evening.
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Channel 5 News spoke with two Brownsville residents who shared how the killings still affect them.
“I remember just being in shock really when the news came out,” Brownsville resident Dora Cain said.
Rubio and his common-law wife, Angela Camacho, were convicted of killing their three children — 3-year-old Julissa, 1-year-old John, and 2-month-old Mary Jane — in 2003.
Camacho is serving life in prison.
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The apartment building where the three children were killed is gone, and the Tres Angeles Park now stands in its place.
Cain has brought her grandchildren to the park to help them understand what happened there.
“Just so that they can know that things can happen tragically like that,” Cain said.
Brownsville resident Norma Marroquin grew up in Brownsville and lived in Arizona when the killings happened 23 years ago.
“I remember that it made national news. I was living in Arizona at the time and I remember seeing it when it came out. I was like, 'That can't happen where I grew up,’” Marroquin said.
Marroquin returned to Brownsville and visited the park with her son a month ago. She said she hopes the case will finally reach an end.
“I’m happy justice will be served finally, these poor babies,” Marroquin said.
Criminal defense attorney Sarah Stapleton Barrera, who is not involved in the case, said Rubio's attorneys could still ask a court for an emergency stay in state or federal court.
But Stapleton Barrera said there's an important distinction between asking a court to intervene and actually getting the execution stopped.
“Just because a lawyer files something that doesn't mean they have to stay the proceedings," Stapleton Barrera said. "Someone will look at it and decide whether it has any merit."
If a court grants an emergency stay, the execution would be put on hold while the legal issue is addressed.
A vigil for the children will begin at Tres Angeles Park 15 minutes before the scheduled execution, which is set for around 6 p.m. Thursday.
Watch the video above for the full story.
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