Charges dropped against Travis County murder suspects, teen victim's family pleads for information
GEORGETOWN, Texas - "I was looking forward for that justice. Now there's nothing. We're back to square one." said Belinda Martinez. Martinez waited more than a year for the results of DNA testing in her son, Daniel Aguillón’s homicide case.
The first week of February the Travis County District Attorney’s Office told her testing came back inconclusive. Charges against the two young men suspected of killing her son were dropped consequently.
"I was devastated." Martinez said. She received the news the same week her son would have turned 18. "Everybody is like, ‘You need to move on.’ And I'm like, ‘How do you do that?’" she asked.
Daniel was shot and killed at the Villas Tech Ridge apartment complex in Travis County in October 2020. Martinez says her son had been staying at the complex for a few days with friends.
"I want justice for Daniel. I think he deserves it. I mean, he wasn't a bad kid. He started hanging around with the wrong crowd of people, and that was the outcome." Martinez said.
Investigators told Martinez her son arranged to sell a gun using Snapchat to the two young men they arrested. The three agreed to meet up using the application. What happened next remains under investigation.
"At a very young age [Daniel] would always tell me, ‘Mom, I'm going to succeed. I’m going to open my own business. I’m going to do something productive and you're never going to have to worry. I'm going to take care of you," Martinez said. Daniel was 16-years-old when he was killed. Martinez says his father had just gone to prison.
Daniel’s sister, high school freshman Jaslyn Maldonado, says their father was arrested in the family’s Georgetown living room in front of the teens and their friends. "Me and Daniel both didn't shed a tear whenever my dad got arrested, but I know it hurt him." She added, "He wasn't as playful as he was. He was always really serious, and when he was playful, he would get mad really easily."
Martinez says the couple got a divorce that same year after more than twenty years of marriage.
"I always told [Daniel] if anything were to ever happen, to be the man of the house -- and he tried to do that. And I think I had impacted him so much that he always wanted to feel like he was a responsible person while daddy was in [prison.]" said Martinez. Her ex-husband has been released from prison, but was deported to Mexico.
Today, it is just Martinez and Jaslyn in their Georgetown home. They are asking for help getting answers in Daniel’s case.
"I know there's people out there that know exactly what happened that day that my son was murdered."
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Travis County Sheriff’s Office.
"I just want them to see how bad that it's taking a toll on my mom. It hurts me so much to see my mom hurting and that I can't do anything about it. And what I can do is try and get justice." said Jaslyn.
FOX 7 Austin contacted the Travis County District Attorney’s Office for information on the case. They provided the following statement:
"Our hearts continue to break for Ms. Aguillon and her family. In any case where the Office has sufficient evidence to hold someone accountable for committing an act of violence, the Office will. Over the course of the last year, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office has secured over 500 indictments for acts of violence committed against members of this community."
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Teens charged with murder out on conditional release in Travis County
Teenager "gunned down" in front of Travis County apartment
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