In front of the couple's apartment, where neighbors would buy snow cones and snacks, candles were burning Wednesday. It's a small shrine to the memory of two people who lived there, until the moment neighbors heard gunfire.
Shooting is a normal thing to hear, says one person with whom we spoke at the Keegan's Mill apartment complex, and yet no one called police about the gunfire early Tuesday. Several hours later, a woman found her parents dead inside their ransacked apartment. Anselma Campos Roman, 38, and her husband, Rosalino Portillo, 42, had been tied up, beaten and shot.
"Then they come up and take somebody's life," said resident Gail Alan. "Thats bad."
The couple was from Mexico They lived here for some four years. Roman sold shucked corn and produce from a grocery cart. Portillo operated a private school shuttle for students and made enough money to expand his fleet by two expensive new vans.
The the family may have had more money than people realized, except for perhaps the person who killed them.
"There was certainly plenty of items and certainly cash left behind, but there were also certain items taken we can't discuss right now," said Sgt. Brian Harris with the Houston Police Department.
That information is being held back so legitimate tips can be identified. For now though, people with information about the shooting, detectives say, are not coming forward.
If you have information about this crime, you're asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS. The information is confidential, and if it leads to an arrest, it could mean a reward.
