Erik Arceneaux was on trial for the murder of Maria Jimenez-Rodriguez, who went missing on June 21, 2018.
Thursday's guilty verdict meant the world to the Jimenez-Rodriguez family.
"Today is a victory. It's not bringing back Maria, but it is putting a person in jail who knew what he did. He took a soul, a good person, from this earth. I just need him to pay for what he did, and today we got justice," Gloria Jimenez, the victim's sister, said.
According to court records, Rodriguez was last seen after dropping off her daughter at daycare before heading to work, but she never arrived.
Prosecutors argued that Arceneaux sent text messages from Jimenez-Rodriguez's phone the day she went missing back in June 2018 and used a chainsaw to dismember her body.
As the investigation continued, it was found that Rodriguez's and Arceneaux's cellphones were at the same location. Investigators tracked the phones, and the suspect's phone data showed that Arceneaux was at a Home Depot in northwest Houston.
Surveillance footage showed a man who matched the description of Arceneaux purchasing trash bags and a chainsaw. A receipt for the items was found with the suspect's signature.
Prosecutors also said the jury saw evidence that Arceneaux drove the victim's truck in the area where it was abandoned.
Texas EquuSearch conducted searches all through the summer of 2018, but Maria's remains were never found. Arceneaux was charged with her disappearance in August of 2019.
Areceneaux remained on the run for five years until September 2023, when the 51-year-old was arrested by the Gulf Coast Violent Offender Task Force in a Walmart parking lot in southeast Houston. He was booked into the Harris County Jail and charged with her murder.
Since Jimenez-Rodriguez has never been found, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, who prosecuted the case himself, said it was not an easy case.
"They're incredibly difficult. When you have no remains, you start thinking about it. We don't have a medical examiner who can tell you what the cause of death is; we can't pinpoint a time of death; we can't even pinpoint a location sometimes, so it adds to what is always already a difficult type of case to handle," Teare said.
Teare said digital evidence is crucial to a case like this to prove guilt without remains or DNA evidence.
"Then going to Home Depot and getting the video of Mr. Arceneaux, getting the chainsaw, wouldn't have ever known he'd gone to Home Depot if it wasn't for that digital evidence," Teare said.
With or without her body, her family said she may be gone, but she won't be forgotten, and they have faith that at some point her remains will be found.
"I miss her so much. There's not a day that goes by that I don't miss that child. She was my baby sister, may she rest in peace," Gloria Jimenez said.
After the verdict, the judge said that Areceneaux's punishment would be set at a later date.
ABC13 has extensively covered the trial on its website since 2018.
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