'What I want is the death penalty': Mom of murdered 4-year-old speaks about case
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The mother of a murdered 4-year-old girl hopes new murder charges against her daughter's accused killers will put them in prison for life -- at the minimum.
Diana Gomez spoke to Eyewitness News Thursday at her daughter's graveside, where she expects her headstone to be installed this week.
Ava Castillo was shot to death last November during what investigators described as a violent crime spree.
Philip Battles, 18, and Ferrell Dardar, who was 17 at the time, were charged with capital murder for Castillo's death. A third man, Marco Miller, was also charged.
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Battles and Dardar picked up a new capital murder charged Wednesday for the death of Melvin Bonilla-Fuentes. According to HPD, Bonilla-Fuentes was confronted during a robbery near the apartment on Goodson where he lived. Battles and Dardar had always been linked to his murder, but Eyewitness News has learned a recent identification led to the new charge.
Battles, whose street name is "Peewee," faces a third capital murder charge for the shooting death of 62-year-old Ignacio Ortega on Nov. 7.
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Gomez hopes all the charges make Ava's case a death penalty case.
"It's just not fair, for what they did. For my daughter. For the other two victims. It's just not fair," she said. "What I want is the death penalty for both of them. If not, at least life in prison without parole."
Only Battles is eligible for the death penalty because of his age.
The Harris County District Attorney's Office has yet to decide whether death will be sought.
