Murder of Lizbeth Medina

Lizbeth Iniguez Medina was born on March 28, 2007, in Grand Island, Nebraska. A year before Lizbeth's murder, her family moved to Edna, a small city approximately 25 miles northeast of Victoria, Texas. Lizbeth was a student and cheerleader at Edna High School. "She loved everybody. She cared for everybody," Jacqueline, Lizbeth's mother, told reporters at her school's football game days after the murder. Rafael Govea Romero was a 23-year-old man from Mexico who had entered the United States on a work visa in 2018 but later he overstayed. In October 2022, he was charged with felony burglary in Schulenburg. In April 2023, less than eight months before Medina's murder, he entered a no-contest plea and was placed on five years of probation. ==Murder==

On the evening of December 5, 2023, Jacqueline Medina grew concerned when her daughter failed to appear at a Christmas parade in Edna. Lizbeth was scheduled to perform with the Edna High School cheer squad. Returning to the family's apartment at the Cottonwood Apartments on North Wells Street, she found Lizbeth stabbed to death in the bathtub of the rear bedroom. Officers from the Edna Police Department responded at approximately 6:55 p.m. Medina died from stab wounds. A GoFundMe page established by Lizbeth's aunt Ana in Grand Island raised over $21,000 to cover funeral expenses and return her remains to Nebraska. ==Investigation==

Investigators from the Edna Police Department, the Texas Rangers, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, and the Texas Department of Public Safety treated the case as a capital murder. Police identified Romero as a suspect and tracked him to Schulenburg through a tip on December 9. Officers located him at a private residence with family. Edna Police Chief Rick Boone said he was "100 percent confident" Romero had killed Medina, and that Romero had confessed to the crime. Romero was arrested on December 9, 2023, and booked into the Jackson County Jail. A magistrate set his bond at $2 million. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed a detainer on him due to his immigration status. ==Legal proceedings==

A Jackson County grand jury indicted Romero on February 5, 2024, on capital murder charges, alleging that he committed the murder during an attempted burglary, robbery, or aggravated sexual assault. In February 2025, a Jackson County judge found Romero mentally able to stand trial. On September 25, 2025, Romero pleaded guilty to murder, aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, and burglary of a habitation. He was sentenced to two concurrent life terms for the murder and robbery charges, and an additional 20-year sentence for the burglary. He is eligible for parole after 30 years. As part of this agreement, Romero waived all appellate rights. Jacqueline Medina stated that she had not been consulted about the plea agreement and had hoped for a sentence of life without parole or the death penalty. "They lied completely," she said. "They lied to my attorney, they lied to me and they lied to the judge." Assistant District Attorney Stephen Tyler drew public criticism after appearing to justify the decision not to pursue the death penalty on financial grounds in a comment on a local news Facebook page, writing that a capital case would cost "several millions of local dollars from arrest to grave." District Attorney Pam Guenther later apologized for the comments and stated that finances played no role in the charging decision. ==Political reactions==

, February 24, 2026. She attended as a guest of Donald Trump. On February 24, 2026, President Donald Trump recalled Medina's murder during his 2026 State of the Union Address. Jacqueline Medina came to the address, and sat in the House gallery as his guest. Trump described the killing in detail to call for stricter immigration enforcement. Trump did not mention that Romero had entered the country through a legal port of entry, nor that the perpetrator was already convicted and sentenced to prison before Trump gave the address. Jacqueline Medina accepted Trump's invitation not as a political endorsement, but solely to honor her daughter. "My daughter, Lizbeth Medina, was not a headline. She was my child," she said. "I accepted the invitation because I made a promise to her." == See also ==