Jacqueline Medina drove 13 hours from Nevada to Texas to face her daughter’s alleged murderer in court for the first time Feb. 6.

Rafael Govea Romero, a 25-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico, is accused of breaking into Jacqueline Medina’s former Edna apartment the morning of Dec. 5, 2023, and fatally stabbing her 16-year-old daughter, Lizbeth Medina, who was getting ready for school at the time. He allegedly left her body in a bathtub.

“This is the first time I saw him,” Medina told Fox News Digital after the hearing. “I wanted to sit right behind him. I wanted him to look at me. I wanted him to see me … and let him know that I’m here, regardless of all the pain that he’s making me feel and put my family through. We stand strong, and he’s not going to win.”

Medina recalled making eye contact with the suspect for the first time. She said he was taller than she expected.

Neither Medina nor Lizbeth knew Romero, but Medina noted that their house had been burglarized on Nov. 13, 2023, about a month before the teenager’s murder. Edna Police officers believe Romero may have been involved in the burglary and may have stalked Lizbeth before allegedly attacking and killing her.

Lizbeth Medina was found dead in a bathtub of her apartment in Edna, Texas, Dec. 5, 2023. (Jacqueline Medina)

Romero has pleaded not guilty in the capital murder case.

Romero’s defense team also filed a motion to suppress certain evidence late last year, arguing Edna Police Department officers searched and detained Romero without reasonable suspicion, and they searched his apartment without consent from the suspect, the Advocate reported.

The suspect’s defense attorney, Ross Reifel, did not immediately respond to an inquiry from Fox News Digital. Romero is being held on $2 million bond in Jackson County.