Overview

• Valerie (Valeria) Laguna, 26, who was eight to nine months pregnant, was found on July 19, 2005 at Cristo Rey Cemetery in Cotulla, Texas.
• Saul Gonzalez, 66, was arrested in Cotulla at the Eagle Ford crossing and jailed on a $1 million bond after a La Salle County grand jury charged him with capital murder.
• DPS reports that specialized testing, including BODE Technology’s 2023 analysis, identified Gonzalez’s DNA on evidentiary items from the case.
• The long-running investigation involved the Texas DPS Crime Lab, the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification, and the Williamson County Sheriff's Office.
• Officials say Laguna appeared to have been sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled and that her unborn baby died, with further details withheld pending prosecution.