Phillis Rodriguez

Phillis Pamela Rodriguez, a beloved mother, grandmother, and friend known for her contagious laughter, was 44 years old when her life was tragically cut short in Odessa, Texas. A Hispanic woman born in Pecos, Texas, on January 25, 1972, Phillis moved to Odessa with her family in 2000. She was a dedicated homemaker and a woman of Catholic faith who cherished her family above all else. Her greatest joy was her three children and her five grandchildren, who were the highlight of her life. Friends and family remember her as a great friend to many who is now dearly missed.

The night of January 10, 2017, began with an act of kindness. Phillis was delivering food to her niece’s home on the 1300 block of East 36th Street. In the early hours of the morning, around 1:30 a.m., she was confronted outside the residence by her estranged husband, 48-year-old Phillip Alvin Rodriguez. The two had been together for 28 years. An argument broke out between them, during which Phillip reportedly took Phillis’s phone, credit cards, and cash before leaving the scene in a dark-colored Chevrolet Suburban.

A short time later, a vehicle’s horn was heard outside. A witness saw the Suburban parked in front of Phillis’s 2017 GMC pickup truck. Phillip Rodriguez got out of his vehicle, walked over to where Phillis was sitting in her truck, pointed a gun, and fired. After Phillip initially drove away, Phillis’s niece and another witness ran outside to help her, finding her struggling to breathe beside her vehicle. As they tried to get her into the truck to rush her to the hospital, they heard several more gunshots and retreated into the house for safety.

When Odessa Police Department officers arrived at the scene in response to reports of shots fired, they found Phillis lying next to her pickup truck. She had suffered multiple gunshot wounds to her head and was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators found bullet casings on the pavement and bullet holes in the GMC truck, bearing silent witness to the violence that had occurred. The investigation quickly led police to Phillip Rodriguez.

Later that same morning, officers located Phillip in the 1400 block of Nabors Lane. He was taken into custody by the Odessa Police Department, transported to the station, and subsequently arrested and charged with first-degree murder. In March 2017, a grand jury indicted him on the murder charge, and the case proceeded to the Ector County courts.

At his jury trial in the 161st District Court, Phillip Alvin Rodriguez pleaded guilty to murdering his wife. The jury found him guilty and, after rejecting the defense that he had acted under the immediate influence of sudden passion, assessed his punishment. He was sentenced to fifty years in prison and fined $10,000. Subsequent appeals filed on his behalf were ultimately unsuccessful, with a Texas appeals court affirming the trial court's judgment in July 2021.

Following her death, Phillis’s family held a rosary and a funeral mass at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Odessa. She was laid to rest at Sunset Memorial Gardens Cemetery. Her obituary remembered a woman who loved and adored her beautiful grandchildren and whose laughter would be missed by many family and friends. The case stands as a tragic example of domestic violence, leaving a family and a community to mourn the loss of a cherished life.