LA MARQUE, Texas — A Houston man was arrested Thursday in connection with the woman who was found dead in a newly built home in La Marque.
Evidence thrown away in a dumpster identified Carlos Lara-Balcazar, 34, as the suspected killer, police said. The dumpster is about seven minutes away from Lara-Balcazar's home.
A warrant was issued for his arrest and he was later taken into custody at his apartment on Broadway Street near Galveston Road. After being treated for injuries he received during his arrest, he was taken to the Galveston County Sheriff's Office Jail, police said.
Maria Rios, a 57-year-old Rosharon woman, was found dead Tuesday at a "bloody" scene inside a house at a construction site on Green Jay Lane, which is near the intersection of Delany Road and Texas Avenue. The house is in the new Sunset Grove subdivision.
Rios' daughter told KHOU 11's Janelle Bludau that she has no idea why someone would want to hurt her mother.
"My sister just called me and told me that they weren’t able to find her. They weren’t able to locate her car," said Cynthia Espindola, Rios' daughter.
Espindola spoke to KHOU 11 from her home in Japan. She and her family will now have to make an unexpected trip to Houston.
“Be able to say my final goodbyes," Espindola said.
Police said Rios owned the company that was contracted to clean the house once it was finished.
She was a mother of three daughters and a grandmother to four grandkids.
"She loved everyone. She was the voice of the family. The one that got the family together," Espindola said. “I just can't believe that somebody could be that evil to do something to a woman who just did not deserve it.”
Police said Lara-Balcazar may know Rios and her death was not "random."
Lara-Balcazar was charged with tampering with physical evidence and was given a bond of $40,000. Police said more charges are likely.