Police chief, sheriff discuss arrest of suspected serial killer

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - “When I left my house last night before my shift, I told my wife, 'I’m going to catch him,'” said Harris County Deputy Jorge Reyes. “Sure enough, I did.”

After arresting 46-year-old Jose Gilberto Rodriguez, Deputy Reyes could tell his wife, 'I told you so,' and Houston could take a collective sigh of relief.

Rodriguez was arrested near the scene of a July 9 alleged home invasion robbery he is implicated in.

The suspected serial killer was placed in handcuffs without incident following a fourteen-minute vehicle chase.

“We’re very happy and relieved that this dangerous individual responsible for what we believe several murders is off the street,” said Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.

Law enforcement officers say Rodriguez had a gun when he was arrested.

“We’re not naive enough to believe the totality of the cases are what we’ve identified and what we’re working on,” said Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo. “We believe he may not only be involved in other crimes, but also believe he may have attempted to go to other homes.”

Investigators still aren’t saying how the crimes are linked but do say Rodriguez was picking his victims at random.

“The evidence we’ve uncovered and the nuts and bolts of it, I’m still not at liberty to go into,” said Harris County Senior Deputy David Cain.

Robbery remains the only obvious motive.

“Parolees are a huge problem,” said Chief Acevedo.

Like others before him, Rodriguez cut off a monitoring device and was a parole absconder.

The police chief and sheriff are now forming a task force of officers who will do nothing but monitor parolee absconders and violators.

“It’s coming, I promise,” added Chief Acevedo.