Execution Report: David Renteria

David Santiago Renteria, 53, was executed by lethal injection on 16 November 2023 in Huntsville, Texas for the abduction and murder of a 5-year-old girl.

On Sunday, 18 November 2001, Alexandra Flores disappeared from a Wal-Mart store in El Paso where she was shopping with her parents. The next day, her body was discovered in an alley sixteen miles away. She was nude, partially burned, and had a plastic bag over her head. The medical examiner found that she had received two blows to the head and was manually strangled before being set on fire.

A Wal-Mart security guard recalled speaking with a man who had left his van running outside the store the day Alexandra disappeared. Store surveillance video showed a man following her around the store for about 40 minutes before walking out with her. A search of Renteria's van found blood stains containing her DNA.

Renteria, who was 31 on the day of Flores's disappearance, was arrested. He gave a statement blaming the murder on "Flaco," a member of the Azteca gang he met in prison. He claimed he only lured Flores out of the Wal-Mart and helped Flaco and other members of the gang burn and dispose of her body. He said he participated in her abduction out of fear because the other gang members were threatening his family.

Renteria had a previous conviction for fondling an eight-year-old girl. He was on probation as a registered sex offender at the time of Flores's murder.

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