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Inset: Alina Gonzalez-Morelos (Pasadena Police Department). Background: The sidewalk near where Gonzalez-Morelos allegedly ran down her husband in Pasadena, Tex. (Google Maps).
A Texas woman finds herself in custody after allegedly running over her husband during a heated dispute, authorities from the Lone Star State report.
Alina Gonzalez-Morelos, aged 37, faces a first-degree murder charge following the fatal incident involving her husband, 42-year-old Leonardo Mendoza, as detailed in a statement released by the Pasadena Police Department.
The tragic event unfolded over the weekend in Pasadena, a sizable city situated approximately 15 miles southeast of Houston.
The incident took place near a Pizza Hut at the crossroads of Red Bluff Road and Deepwater Avenue, where Mendoza was struck while on the sidewalk.
In the early hours of Sunday, law enforcement officers arrived in response to a call concerning a “fail to stop and render aid” situation, colloquially known as “FSRA” by the local police, according to department spokespersons.
A 911 caller said a black Chevrolet Tahoe hit a pedestrian on the sidewalk and then fled the scene, according to law enforcement. Mendoza was located and said to be suffering from serious injuries.
The victim was rushed to HCA Houston Healthcare Southeast, a nearby hospital, but later succumbed to his injuries, police say.
Detectives eventually made their way to the scene of the crime and began a “thorough investigation,” according to the police department.
Investigators allegedly determined Mendoza and his wife were “engaged in a verbal altercation at their residence shortly before the incident,” police say. The husband is believed to have left the couple”s residence on foot. Then, when he was walking on the sidewalk, he was allegedly mowed down by his wife, according to law enforcement.
The argument that allegedly led to the violence is believed to have been about a text message, according to court documents obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The exact details of the message are currently not a matter of public record.
The defendant, for her part, admitted to the crime, police say. Gonzalez-Morelos allegedly told investigators she “accelerated” her SUV onto the sidewalk, drove through two poles, and then hit her husband, according to law enforcement.
The case has been taken over by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, police said. The alleged self-created widow was initially detained in the Pasadena Police Department headquarters and is awaiting transport to the Harris County Joint Processing Center.