Texas cheerleader, 16, found dead in apartment bathtub believed murdered: 'I don't understand'
Texas police are investigating the murder of 16-year-old Liz Medina, who was found dead in the bathtub of her Edna apartment on Dec. 5. Her mother is pleading for answers.
The mother of a 16-year-old Texas girl found dead in their Edna apartment on Tuesday is "praying for justice" for her only child.
Jacquelin Medina came home on Tuesday evening to find her daughter, Lizbeth "Liz" Medina, dead in the bathtub of their residence at the Cottonwood Apartments after she had not seen or heard from the 16-year-old that afternoon.
"I decided to go look for her. And I kept calling her phone nonstop, and it would take me straight to voicemail. … I called a bunch of people and nobody knew anything. It wasn't until I walked into the restroom that I was on the phone with my friend asking him to come help me look for her — is when I [saw] her foot, and it was in the bathtub. And so I opened the curtains. There she was," Medina told Fox News Digital.
The Edna Police Department is investigating Liz's death as capital murder. Police have not released details about how she died.
She and her daughter were living in the apartment complex temporarily after Medina moved from Nebraska to Texas for her job in renewable energy. She and Liz were the only two people who had keys to the apartment, she said.
Medina left for work around 6 a.m. on Tuesday — the usual time she leaves "every single day." She woke her daughter up before she left because she had to get ready for cheer practice. The next time she was in contact with her daughter was when she arrived at work that morning, and the last communication anyone had with Liz was around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. After that, friends and family assumed her phone must have died.
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The Monday prior, Liz had been sick from school, so friends did not find it unusual that she did not show up to school again on Tuesday.
When Medina finished up work that day, she went home to change out of her muddy construction clothes before heading to a Christmas parade that Liz's cheer team was participating in. She watched the parade but did not see her daughter with the rest of the Edna High School cheerleaders. When Medina asked if any of her teammates knew where her daughter was, no one knew.
That was when panic set in, and she began making phone calls on her way home, only to find Liz dead in the bathtub of their apartment, where she had not noticed her before.
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"It hurts me. When I went to go change, I didn't realize that she had been there the whole time. I could have seen her. … I didn't look. I just didn't go into the restroom," the heartbroken mother said.
She said she cannot shake the image of her daughter out of her head and "can't comprehend" why someone would violently take the 16-year-old's life.
"I don't understand why. My God, why would they do this to her?" Medina said. "She's such a beautiful, smart, and amazing girl. There's moments where I just can't take it. And then there's moments where I feel like I need to be strong for her."
Medina says she is confident Edna police are diligently searching for evidence and answers.
"I'm just praying for justice. I want whoever did this…to be put behind bars because my daughter didn't deserve any of this. She was an amazing, good girl," she said.
Liz was not like other teenagers, her mother said. She was "very mature" and cared deeply for her friends and family.
"I just want everybody to know that that was an amazing child," Medina said. "She wasn't a normal teenager getting in trouble for doing crazy stuff. She was very mature for her age. She was a caring and loving person who, as far as I know and from the messages I received, she changed a lot of people's lives. I just want everybody to remember her that way and not the way that she was taken from me."
Authorities are asking anyone with information about Liz's death to contact the Edna Police Department at 361-782-5271.
Medina is encouraging those attending an Edna High School football game on Thursday night to wear purple in memory of her daughter. The game will be live-streamed. In addition, a vigil for Liz will be held in Edna on Saturday.