Monica Victoria Leija, a 36-year-old Hispanic woman, was found shot once and dead in the master bedroom of her southeast Houston home on February 9, 2010. Family members reported her missing after she was last seen going to work on February 4 and failed to show up on February 5; officers and Houston Fire Department personnel located her body when they checked the residence on February 9.

Investigators identified her common-law husband, 29-year-old Hispanic man Juan J. Castillo, as the primary suspect. Witness statements and evidence pointed to Castillo, and he was charged with murder in the 177th State District Court. Authorities believed Castillo fled the scene in a green four-door 1997 Infiniti I-30 with Texas plates BC9R855, registered to Leija, and a search was launched.

Officials later said the couple had argued in the kitchen before the killing. Their two small children were sent upstairs; Monica joined them in a bedroom where, according to investigators, the couple’s 5-year-old daughter witnessed Castillo come in, lean down, whisper to Monica, and then shoot her. Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact the Houston Police Department’s Homicide Division or Crime Stoppers.