Woman Charged With Texas Couple’s Murder Years Later After Matching DNA Was Found On Blood-Stained Carpet

Blood DNA found on a carpet leads to a woman getting arrested 17 years after a couple was killed in their Texas home.

Back in April 2005, the daughter of 80-year-old Antonio and 77-year-old Luz Rodriguez found her parents bludgeoned to death in their Cleveland, Texas home. The murder suspect has been identified as 41-year-old Shelley Susan Thompson, who’s now been charged with capital murder in their deaths.

CBS News reports blood DNA found on the carpet helped police connect Thompson to the couple’s killing. The DNA found was tested last year. Thompson, who at the time was in state prison for reasons unrelated to the couple’s murder, denied being involved in their deaths but provided a sample of her DNA to investigators. After finding that her DNA matched evidence that was found at the crime scene, police arrested Thompson, who was on parole this past Friday.

“Sometimes such small pieces of evidence can solve a case and in this case that piece of carpet that was found inside the home that had a spectacle of blood on it,” said Cleveland Police Chief Darrel Broussard of the case.

Years later, the couple’s daughter, Carolina Tejeda, says justice “feels good.”

“They were great parents, very loving, forgiving, compassionate and sometimes you wonder maybe that’s why people took advantage of that, said Tejeda.

It's been 17 years since Carolina Tejeda found her parents bludgeoned to death in their Cleveland, Texas home. And now, a 41-year-old woman is in custody. @GraceWhiteKHOU  https://t.co/WJSWGRbjQg

— KHOU 11 News Houston (@KHOU) July 9, 2022