Juan Segundo

Case record: Juan Segundo

Background

Juan Segundo was a Hispanic male. He had black hair, was 5' 5" tall, weighed 183 lbs, and had brown eyes. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He had completed education up to the 7th grade. When he was received into the case on 02/15/2007, he was 44 years old.

Juan Segundo had prior employment as a landscaper and general laborer.

Juan Segundo had prior prison record: TDCJ #488171 on a 10 year sentence for burglary of a habitat; he received an additional 5 year sentence for DWI while on parole.

The offence

On August 3, 1986 in Tarrant County, Juan Segundo entered a residence in Ft. Worth. After raping an 11-year-old Hispanic female, he strangled her.

The victim was Vanessa Villa, an 11-year-old girl. On the day she was attacked in 1986, Vanessa had stayed home instead of going with her mother and brother and little sister to run an errand. When they returned 30 minutes later, they found her raped and strangled. She was rushed to a local hospital but was pronounced dead within an hour.

Police believed Juan Segundo entered Vanessa's home through her bedroom window late Aug. 3, 1986. Some belongings were in disarray as if Vanessa had struggled with her attacker. The attack held striking similarities to two crimes Juan Segundo was convicted of in the years after Vanessa's slaying.

Investigation

A DNA link to Juan Segundo was established almost 20 years later.

Police say the break in the case came last week when they were notified that a database called the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, had linked semen taken from Vanessa's body to Juan Segundo. CODIS compares the entered DNA profiles against those of convicted offenders and DNA evidence from other unsolved crimes. Investigators said DNA taken from Vanessa Villa's body matched that of 42-year-old Juan Segundo.

Arrest

Homicide investigators and Johnson County sheriff's officers arrested Juan Segundo on a capital murder warrant at his Johnson County home early Wednesday morning. He was being held in Mansfield Jail on Thursday morning with bail set at $300,000.

The case was covered in a report dated Thursday, April 21, 2005 by Associated Press - Fort Worth Star-Telegram, stating that nearly 19 years after an 11-year-old girl was raped and strangled in her home, police had arrested a former friend of the family who investigators said attended the girl's wake.

In the same report, investigators said Juan Segundo attended the girl's wake. It stated that police arrested him on a capital murder warrant early Wednesday morning and that bail was set at $300,000.

People involved

• Defendant: Juan Segundo (Hispanic male; hair black; height 5' 5"; weight 183 lbs; eye color brown; education up to the 7th grade)
• Victim: Vanessa Villa (Hispanic female, 11 years old)
• Victim’s mother: Rosa Maria Clarke
• Victim’s brother: Enrique Balderas
• Victim’s sister: Balderas identified as Enrique Balderas’s sister (Vanessa Villa)
• Family connection mentioned: Rosa Maria Clarke, her sister and Balderas had worked with Juan Segundo's former wife at a nursing home in Lake Worth.
• Juan Segundo’s stepbrother: Jesus Garcia
• Prior acquaintance: police said the former wife had worked with Rosa Maria Clarke, her sister, and Balderas at a nursing home in Lake Worth.

Other details

In describing what happened when the family returned, Vanessa's brother, Enrique Balderas, recalled:

"When we came back, I went straight to my room and my mom opened her door and then started screaming,"

He also said:

"I went to the room and then I saw my sister lying in the bed."

Police believe Juan Segundo entered Vanessa's home through her bedroom window late Aug. 3, 1986. Some belongings were in disarray as if Vanessa had struggled with his attacker.

Police said the 40-year-old victim told police about an earlier burglary incident: she had awoke to feeling someone touching her and turned on the light to find a man kneeling beside her bed with his pants and underwear pulled down. The woman told police the man covered her mouth with his hand and began hitting her in the mouth and face.

The report stated that the victim’s daughter ran into the room during the attack and recognized the fleeing suspect as a man she had previously worked with, according to a police report.

After Vanessa's death, Rosa Maria Clarke, her sister, and Balderas had lost touch with Juan Segundo. Balderas said the family never suspected the man had anything to do with his sister's death.

Regarding Juan Segundo’s behavior after his prison releases, his stepbrother Jesus Garcia said:

"He hadn't been getting into drinking like he used to. He changed his ways a lot,"

Garcia also said:

"It's hard for me to believe,"

Timeline

• 08/03/1986 — Juan Segundo entered a residence in Ft. Worth in Tarrant County and, after raping an 11-year-old Hispanic female, strangled her.
• June 1988 — Juan Segundo pleaded guilty to a charge of burglary of a habitation and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
• July 1989 — Juan Segundo was paroled from prison.
• 1991 — Juan Segundo returned again following a conviction of misdemeanor burglary for a similar attack in 1990.
• January 1993 — Juan Segundo was paroled again.
• September 1995 — Juan Segundo was sentenced to five years in prison for driving while intoxicated/felony repetition.
• June 2000 — Juan Segundo was released on mandatory supervision.
• A month later — Juan Segundo was discharged from parole.
• 02/15/2007 — Juan Segundo’s age at receipt was listed as 44, and the case received an entry showing he was sentenced to death on February 15, 2007 (TDCJ Number: 999520).
• Early Wednesday morning (day covered by the report) — Juan Segundo was arrested on a capital murder warrant at his Johnson County home and held in Mansfield Jail with bail set at $300,000.
• Thursday, April 21, 2005 — A report stated police had arrested Juan Segundo nearly 19 years after the rape and strangling of Vanessa Villa.

Sentencing

Juan Segundo was sentenced to death on February 15, 2007 (TDCJ Number: 999520).