Rene Mendez has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after a jury found him guilty of Capital Murder of Multiple Persons. The verdict, delivered after a five-day trial in the 341st District Court, carries an automatic sentence of life without parole under Texas law.
The case centered on the brutal murders of Sylvia Ramos and her daughter, Brianna Ramos, which came to light on March 6, 2023.
Laredo Police Department officers were initially responding to a call for service on Arkansas Ave around 11:28 a.m. when an unknown man, identified as Ms. Ramos’s brother, frantically waved them down from a nearby apartment complex at 2601 Lomas Del Sur Blvd. Screaming, “come here,” “hurry,” and “My sister was killed,” he led officers into the apartment.
Inside, officers discovered the lifeless bodies of Sylvia and Brianna Ramos. Mr. Ramos informed police that his sister, her daughter, and her boyfriend, Rene Mendez, had been living there.
The LPD immediately issued a BOLO (Be On the Lookout) for Mendez. Later that same day, officers responded to an overdose call at a Motel 6 on 5310 San Bernardo Ave, where the subject was identified as Rene Mendez.
The subsequent investigation revealed the horrific details of the crime: Rene Mendez had asphyxiated Brianna Ramos and then fatally stabbed Sylvia Ramos 55 times with a sharp object.
Following the guilty verdict on Count #1, Capital Murder of Multiple Persons, Judge Palomo formally assessed the mandatory punishment: LIFE without parole in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Correctional Institutional Division.
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