Joshua LaFrance, 21, was found fatally shot in a motel room in the Cloverleaf area of East Houston on February 2, 2025. Deputies conducting a welfare check around 1:30 p.m. discovered him on the bed with multiple gunshot wounds. A teenage girl and 17-year-old Julian Vela were with LaFrance in the room; court documents say the three had spent the previous night at the motel.

She reported seeing Vela standing over LaFrance as he gasped for air; Vela allegedly fired a second shot that killed him, took two chains from LaFrance’s neck, and demanded help finding his watch. The girl says Vela forced her into LaFrance’s black Cadillac, drove to a vacant lot, had her remove a blood-stained shirt he then burned along with a towel, and threatened her life if she contacted police. Vela reportedly told the girl the killing was revenge for a prior robbery.

Julian Vela was arrested February 6, 2025, in Austin and charged with capital murder. Did anyone know LaFrance, Vela, or the girl, or have information about their contacts in Cloverleaf that could help clarify the events that night?