The Murders of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña

WARNING! ⚠️ The details in this case are EXTREMELY graphic! Please proceed reading at your own risk.

Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña were two best friends from Houston, Texas who were brutally raped and murdered by a gang as an initiation ritual on a summer night in 1993. The suspects involved were all charged with the girls’s murders and faced death penalties.

Jennifer Louise Ertman was born on August 15, 1978 and Elizabeth Christine Peña was born on June 21, 1977. The girls became close friends as they grew up and attended Waltrip High School in Houston, Texas. The parents of the girls admired their friendship. Elizabeth’s father even stated that Jennifer was a such great influence on Elizabeth.

On June 24, 1993, Jennifer’s father Randy dropped her off at Elizabeth’s home at around 4:15 P.M. Then at about 8 P.M. Elizabeth’s mother Melissa dropped both Elizabeth and Jennifer at their friend Gina’s house, whom was having a pool party. The girls agreed to come back by their 11:30 P.M. curfew.

After having fun and partying with friends, the girls realized that they would be late for their curfew, so they hurriedly left to make it on time. The girls chose to take a 10 minute shortcut to get back to Elizabeth’s home faster. This is when they encountered danger.

As they were following along the shortcut, Elizabeth and Jennifer encountered a group of 6 men, Peter Cantu, José Medellin, Sean Derrick O’Brien, Efrain Pérez, Raul Villarreal, and Venancio Medellin, with Venancio being the youngest at 14 years old at the time. It was about 10:30 P.M. when the gang had finished initiating Raul Villarreal Into their gang by fighting the other members. About 40 minutes after this, the girls encountered the men all drinking beers and talking. As the girls passed, José Medellin attempted to grope one of Elizabeth’s breasts, to which she brushed it off. José then exclaimed, “No baby! Where [are] you going?!” , grabbing Elizabeth by her neck and dragging her down a gravel incline going towards the other members. Instead of running away, Jennifer bravely went to go help her best friend. She was then thrown to the ground by other gang members.

WARNING ⚠️ GRAPHIC DETAIL BELOW

The gang members then forced both girls to remove their clothing. They were then raped vaginally, anally, and orally by all the gang members. During this, the girls struggled against their attackers, with Jennifer biting them several times and Elizabeth kicking her legs. They often glanced at each other with concern and cried as this went on.

After raping the girls, the leader of the gang Peter Cantu didn’t want to risk the girls identifying them, so he ordered the other members to kill the girls. At this, Raul Villarreal yelled at Jennifer, “Get on your knees bitch!”. Both he and Sean O’Brien then proceeded to strangle Jennifer with a red nylon belt until it broke, to which they then used a shoe lace. They made Elizabeth watch as they strangled her best friend to death. Elizabeth pleaded with them not to kill her, offering to give them her phone number so that they could “get together” if they let her go. When this didn’t work, Elizabeth attempted to run once more, but was caught and repeatedly kicked in the face and body by Peter Cantu. This fractured several of her ribs and broke her teeth. Peter Cantu, José Medellin, and Efrain Pérez then strangled Elizabeth to death with multiple shoelaces. They then proceeded to stomp both girls’ necks to ensure they were dead. As the gang left the scene, Peter handed Venacio Medellin a Goofy wristwatch that was taken from Jennifer’s body, saying, “Take this, I don’t want it.”

All of the members except for Sean O’Brien then met up at Peter Cantu’s home, where he lived with his brother Joe Cantu and his sister in law Christina. Christina noticed that Raul was bleeding and Efrain had blood on his shirt and questioned the men on what happened. José Medellin responded that they “had fun” and more details would be on the news later. He then went on to talk about the rapes. Peter Cantu later divided valuables that they stole from the girls among the members. This included a ring with an “E” on it that José Medellin later gave to his girlfriend Esther. José and the other men continued to talk about the murders, stating that it would’ve been easier with a gun. Once the gang left the home, Christina convinced her husband Joe that he needed to report his brother and the gang to the police.

On June 28, 1993, the girls remains were discovered in the park. Due to the hot weather conditions, the bodies were badly decomposed and they had to be identified through dental records. Their cause of deaths were determined to be strangulation. At the crime scene, Jennifer’s father Randy had to be held back by multiple people as he was hysterical and trying to see if it was really his daughter they found. Unbeknownst to others, one of the killers, Sean O’Brien, was at the crime scene with his younger brother and watched with a smile as the girls’ bodies were being removed. After being reported to the police, the men involved in the murders were arrested.

During the trial, Peter Cantu, José Medellin, Sean O’Brien, Efrain Pérez, and Raul Villarreal were all given death sentences. However, Efrain Pérez and Raul Villarreal’s sentences were later reduced to life in prison after the Supreme Court ruled that executions were banned for people who committed the crime when they were under the age of 18. Because Venancio Medellin was only 14 at the time of the murders, he was given a 40 year sentence. Sean O’Brien was the first to be executed via lethal injection on July 11, 2006. After appealing his execution several times, José Medellin was finally executed via lethal injection on August 5, 2008. Finally, the leader Peter Cantu was executed via lethal injection on August 17, 2010. After requesting parole, Venancio Medellin was denied in 2020. Jennifer’s father Randy strongly urged against this as well.

Thinking about what Elizabeth and Jennifer had to endure in their final moments is terrifying. This case leaves me at a loss for words. What those monsters did to those girls is disgusting and they got exactly what was coming to them. And the other men who are left in prison are exactly where they belong and should never walk free again.

Though these 2 best friends were taken in such a horrific and brutal way, knowing that they stuck by and fought for each other to the very end shows how strong their friendship was. These 2 beautiful souls will never be forgotten.

Resources-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_of_Jennifer_Ertman_and_Elizabeth_Peña

http://www.frightmeter.com/2016/11/little-known-real-life-murders-worse.html