HOUSTON — Investigators said a man who shot and killed his girlfriend in a jealous rage five years ago bonded out of jail and hasn't been seen since.
Now, Crime Stoppers of Houston is asking for the community's help to locate 43-year-old Bryan Vega-Velez.
It's a busy stretch of Houston, where Bissonnet crosses Beltway 8 on the city's southwest side. It was just as busy back on June 11, 2016, when 28-year-old Alma Rivera-Melendez was shot to death.
"I think that the system, not only in the states but all around the world, is broken," Karina Cardona-Melendez said.
Cardona-Melendez is Rivera-Melendez's sister. She spoke to KHOU 11 from Puerto Rico.
"She was like a mom for me because we are three sisters and I am the little one," she said.
Cardona-Melendez was visiting her sister at her Houston apartment when Rivera-Melendez was shot and killed on the patio. The man who fired the gun, investigators say, was Vega-Velez.
"This was an extremely senseless killing," Houston Police Department Sgt. Richard Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez is the original detective who was first assigned the case.
"You have Bryan Vega-Velez, a jealous man who suspected that Alma was maybe talking to another man," Rodriguez said.
Investigators said the couple had been arguing all day over text messages.
When he got home to confront her, that's when investigators said he shot and killed her.
"He told me, 'I killed her,' and then he ran away," Cardona-Melendez said.
Vega-Velez was arrested, but authorities said he bonded out of jail and never showed up for his court date.
"To think he can do and then leave the area, undetected, that's really got our involvement," Deputy U.S. Marshal Cameron Welch said.
Welch is on the Gulf Coast Violent Offender's Task Force. Their job is to track Vega-Velez down.
"This case has led us across the United States. We have a strong suspicion that he's in the Florida area, or possibly, Puerto Rico," Welch said.
Vega-Velez has ties in both places.
"It's really frustrating. It's really scary because I don't know where he is at," Cardona-Melendez said. "She wanted to be a mom. She wanted to have kids, be married."
There is up to a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Vega-Velez. If you can help, call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).