Indigo Garza

Indigo Garza, a 20-year-old woman from Houston, Texas, was shot and killed on the night of February 23, 2022. She had been at a nearby store with a friend and was walking back to an apartment complex in the 300 block of Rosamond Street around 11:40 p.m. Witnesses reported seeing a white minivan pull up. Garza appeared to know the driver, and as she walked toward the vehicle to speak to someone inside, gunshots were heard. Officers arriving at the scene found Garza unresponsive in the parking lot with a gunshot wound. Paramedics pronounced her deceased.

The investigation into Garza's death soon uncovered a motive rooted in retaliation. According to charging documents, Garza and two other people had arranged a drug transaction online with a man named Joel Francisco Rojas. During that meeting, Rojas was robbed and his gun was stolen. Investigators determined that Garza was targeted and killed in response to the robbery.

Her mother, Nancy Bulla, described the months after the killing as heartbreaking. She remembered her daughter as "beautiful and smart and loving," but said she had "just got caught up with the wrong people." Bulla found some solace when police began making arrests about six months after her daughter's death.

On August 31, 2022, police arrested Joel Francisco Rojas, then 23, and Sara Ramirez, then 21. A third suspect, John Marcos Araniva, was identified but remained on the run for more than two years. He was finally apprehended by the U.S. Marshals Service Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force on July 30, 2024.

Rojas and Araniva were both charged with murder and tampering with evidence. Ramirez was charged with tampering with evidence for her role in the killing; documents stated she helped clean the white vehicle used in the shooting before it was dumped near a bayou. Ramirez was also charged with aggravated robbery in a separate incident.

The legal proceedings have since concluded. John Marcos Araniva, identified as the shooter, was sentenced to 28 years in prison. For his role in the murder, Joel Francisco Rojas was sentenced to 16 years in prison in the 184th District Court. During his sentencing, Rojas apologized to Garza's family. As of July 2026, all individuals charged in connection with Indigo Garza's death have been held accountable.