Albert Joseph Joey Fischer Jr. was an 18-year-old senior honors student at Saint Joseph Academy in Brownsville, Texas, with a 98.5 grade-point average and plans to become an engineer. On March 3, 1993, he was shot dead outside his home in Rancho Viejo, Texas; the cause of death was gunshot wounds.

The case drew national attention because the killing was arranged after a breakup. Joey had recently ended a relationship with Cristina Cisneros. Her mother, Dora Cisneros, first offered Joey $500 to stay with Cristina, then—after consulting a fortune teller, María Mercedes Martínez—allegedly offered $3,000 to have Joey killed when the fortune teller refused to cast a spell. Martínez passed money and a photo to Daniel Orlando Garza, who recruited two Mexican hitmen, Israel Olivarez Cepeda and Heriberto Puentes Pizaña, to carry out the shooting; the hitmen fled to Mexico.

Garza later confessed and cooperated with authorities; Martínez pleaded guilty and testified against the hitmen. Dora Cisneros and Garza received life sentences in state court in 1994; Cisneros’s conviction was overturned and she was later convicted in federal court in 1998 and sentenced to life. Martínez was given a 20-year sentence after her plea and cooperation; the hitmen were prosecuted in Mexico and sentenced to 15 years. Joey’s death had a lasting impact on his family and community.