FINAL UPDATE: David Renteria, 53, has been executed for kidnapping and killing 5-year-old Alexandra Flores in 2001.
Renteria was given a lethal injection Thursday, Nov. 16 in Huntsville near Houston, Texas. He was pronounced dead at 7:11 p.m. Central Standard Time; 6:11 p.m. local time.
Renteria’s final statement:
“I’m sorry for all the wrongs I have done. And for those who have called for my death, who are about to murder me, I forgive you.”
David Renteria
UPDATE 2: The Supreme Court has denied the appeal to stop the execution. Renteria will be given the lethal injection at any moment.
UPDATE 1: A pending appeal is delaying Renteria’s execution, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
According to court documents, Renteria’s attorney has taken an issue with the type of drug that will be administered for the lethal injection.
Additionally, it is unknown how long it could take the Supreme Court to rule on that appeal.
ORIGINAL: EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – David Renteria is expected to die by lethal injection on Thursday for killing and kidnapping 5-year-old Alexandra Flores in 2001.
“I just, wish you would die right about now. I can’t wait to see the day where I can see you die in front of everybody else,” were the words of Alexandra’s brother Ignacio Fausto during Renteria’s sentencing in 2008.
Alexandra’s family will be at the Huntsville Unit on Thursday, Nov. 16 to witness Renteria’s execution, which is scheduled for 5 p.m. MST, according to El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks.
On Nov. 18, 2001, Alexandra was Christmas shopping with her family at the Lower Valley Walmart when she vanished.
Her sister Lizette Ibarra-Barrientos told KTSM in an interview in 2022 what happened that day.
“Our parents had agreed that we were all going to go shopping for Christmas gifts. They would buy us each set of clothes and a toy that would pick out and we would put it on layaway. We met up at the layaway and my dad asked for Alexandra and we’re like, no, she’s not with us. My mom thought she is with my dad and vice versa. And then that’s when we started looking for her,” she said.
The next day, Alexandra was found dead near Downtown El Paso with a plastic bag over her head and a burnt body.
The autopsy report revealed that she was strangled with no signs of sexual assault.
Two weeks later, Renteria was arrested and tried for the first time in September 2003 and sentenced to death.
After filing an appeal, he was retried again in 2008.
Renteria was sentenced to death for the second time and has been waiting for the execution since.
Hicks told KTSM that Renteria has been filing appeals 24 hours before the execution and the court could stop the proceeding until the very last minute before the execution.
Hicks said this is not common, but it is not unseen in these types of cases.
Renteria is the fifth El Pasoan to be executed in the past 40 years.
The last death row conviction was earlier in 2023 when Facundo Chavez was sentenced to death for killing El Paso County Sheriff’s Deputy Peter Herrera.
The state’s death penalty case for Walmart shooter Patrick Crusius is currently pending.
“This is a very somber, very serious, very prayerful time for all of us involved. But justice will be served and we’re going to be there with the victim’s family to support them and to represent the people of El Paso,” said Hicks.
