Second man on trial for teen mother's slaying

EDINBURG - Aida Mae Rodriguez died to hide a dark family secret.

It's a twisted story, as prosecutors tell it, filled with incest, lies, gruesome violence and rape.

But the tale of the 16-year-old single mother's slaying is one in which Juan Tello Hinojosa insists he played no part.

The former Golden Corral waiter is the second man to face a jury in connection with Rodriguez's Nov. 26, 2006, shooting death. His trial began Wednesday in Hidalgo County Criminal Auxiliary Court.

But unlike co-defendant Samuel Villarreal - who pleaded guilty to murder charges earlier this year - Hinojosa maintains he had nothing to do with the slaying.

Prosecutors allege Hinojosa helped Villarreal take a bound and gagged Rodriguez from a Weslaco home one day before her body was found shot and burned in a sugar cane field south of Donna.

Villarreal, 40, admitted in July that he killed the teen - who neighbors described as his girlfriend - because she walked in on him raping one of his 13-year-old relatives. That girl has since given birth to Villarreal's child.

Hinojosa, however, insists he spent the night of Rodriguez's death at home with his own teenage daughter. He suspects Villarreal may have implicated him in the slaying because Hinojosa had recently moved in with the man's ex-wife - a situation Villarreal was reportedly unhappy about.

"He is not my friend," Hinojosa said shortly after his 2006 arrest. "I feel sorry for that girl, but I did not commit this crime."

As testimony began Wednesday, U.S. Border Patrol agents who apprehended Villarreal, the relative he raped and a coyote who helped smuggle them back into the United States nearly a month after the slaying could offer no evidence linking Hinojosa to the crime.

Neither could the five Hidalgo County sheriff's deputies called to the stand to describe the discovery of Rodriguez's body or the mystery surrounding her 7-month-old daughter, who was found crawling naked and unharmed along a busy Weslaco roadway the night of her mother's death.

Deputies believe Villarreal, the relative he raped and Hinojosa tossed the infant out a car window as they fled the crime scene.

The case's lead investigator and several unnamed witnesses cited in the probable cause affidavit filed in Hinojosa's case have yet to testify.

Their stories - along with that of the teenage rape victim - will detail Hinojosa's involvement in the crime, prosecutors said. Villarreal, who is serving a 60-year state prison sentence, is not expected to take the stand.

If convicted, Hinojosa could face up to life in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

Testimony is expected to resume this morning. The trial is set to run through next month.