HOUSTON — The Texas Department of Public Safety has arrested a man charged with capital murder in the shooting death of a Houston woman in early September.
Daniel Vargas Cartagena, 30, was arrested in Karnes County, southeast of San Antonio, on Thursday, according to the Houston Police Department.
HPD said Cartagena shot and killed Maria Flores, 37, multiple times on Sept. 4 at her apartment complex on Concourse Drive near the Sam Houston Tollway in southwest Houston.
The next day, they released surveillance video showing the victim walking in the parking lot with a man identified as a person of interest.
Vanessa Flores wiped away tears as she spoke with KHOU 11 about her older sister three weeks later. The two last talked on the phone just days before Maria was killed.
“She was bubbly, she loved to laugh,” Vanessa told us. “She was like, 'I’m getting my stuff back on track.' I remember she was excited because she was about to start a new job. We were all trying to help her before it happened.”
Vanessa said another sibling called her to deliver the news of Maria’s death.
“We just took off to my mom's house, and we saw everybody there, and we got the devastating news. It felt like it was a dream, it felt like it wasn’t real. There's a piece of us missing now," Vanessa said.
While Vanessa said her sister was friendly, she does not believe Maria knew her killer.
“My sister trusts a lot of people and that’s the bad thing,” she said. “They don’t know each other, so she was just coming out of her apartment, and she was a victim."
HPD didn't release any information about a possible motive.
They said Cartagena will be extradited to Houston soon.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-8477 or HPD Homicide at 713-308-3600.