HCSO searching for man accused of killing daughter and boss in '46-minute crime spree'

Shannon Ryan Image
Friday, September 1, 2023
Boss loaned $1K to worker who's accused of shooting him, family says
New details have been revealed in what authorities are calling a "46-minute crime spree." A victim's family is revealing what their loved one did before they were shot to death.

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- The Harris County Sheriff's Office is searching for a man they say killed his daughter and then his boss earlier this month.

Rafael Hernandez Gonzalez, 42, is wanted for capital murder - accused of going on what investigators are calling a "46-minute crime spree."

"I don't think I'll ever be able to get over it. Not having answers as to why it happened. I'm so sad," Ana Argueta Giron said through a translator.

Investigators with the sheriff's office believe her son, 45-year-old Josue Argueta Giron, was Hernandez Gonzalez's second victim on Aug.18.

Ana Argueta Giron said her son owned a construction and remodeling company, and Hernandez Gonzalez worked for him as a contractor. Ana Argueta Giron lived and also worked with her son. She said his contractors met at the family's Grove Glen Drive home each morning around 6 a.m. That Friday, she said they all left the home for their assignments, except for Hernandez Gonzalez.

"He stayed behind with Josue by himself. You can see on the cameras that Josue took his Suburban out, opened the back part of it to load it up with materials, and you can see him turning and Rafael (Hernandez Gonzalez) going after him," Ana Argueta Giron said.

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Investigators in possession of the surveillance video wrote that it picked up screaming and gunshots around 6:35 a.m.

Ana Argueta Giron said she is not sure why Hernandez Gonzalez would have opened fire. However, her son had recently taken his credit card, used to purchase construction materials, away from Hernandez Gonzalez because he thought he was using drugs.

"(Afraid) that he would use the card without his permission," she explained.

The morning of the murder, Hernandez Gonzalez told other contractors he did not want to work because he needed to fix his truck, according to Ana Argueta Giron. The night prior, she said her son loaned him $1,000 for the repairs.

"I don't know why he would do something like this. He knew my son for a very long time, and he would give him jobs," she said.

A person driving down the street witnessed the shooting and followed Hernandez Gonzalez. They snapped a photo of the license plate for police.

Investigators believe Hernandez Gonzalez took that vehicle from his daughter, 21-year-old Wendy Guzman-Rivas, at about 5:45 a.m. that day. The truck was registered to Hernandez Gonzalez, however, witnesses told investigators that Guzman-Rivas drove it. Investigators say Hernandez Gonzalez fatally shot his daughter inside the West Bellfort apartment the two shared before driving to Argueta Giron's home.

Ana Argueta Giron said that about two months prior to the murders, her son confided in her about troubling remarks Hernandez Gonzalez made about his daughter.

"He would always say that God would send him visions and would say, 'I had a dream that Wendy, my daughter, had killed me, but before she does something like that, I'm gonna do it to her,'" she recalled.

Josue Argueta Giron is survived by five children.

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