A Texas real estate agent is now in custody in connection with a brutal 2012 killing in which a woman was stabbed nearly 100 times inside her apartment.
Mayra Velasquez, 42, has been charged with capital murder in the death of Irasema Chavez and was booked into the Tarrant County Corrections Center on July 17, according to county jail records reviewed by The Post.
The arrest comes more than 12 years after Chavez, 32, was discovered dead on Jan. 20, 2012, inside her second-floor apartment in Arlington, Texas, with approximately 100 stab wounds, CBS News reported.
When Arlington police first investigated the murder, they found no clear evidence that someone had forced their way into the home, raising the possibility that Chavez knew the person who killed her or had voluntarily opened the door.
Early in the case, one of the most significant clues was surveillance video recorded the night before Chavez was found dead, showing an unidentified person entering the apartment.
Video obtained by KDFW-TV appeared to capture someone wearing loose-fitting clothing and a hoodie walking up the stairs to Chavez’s unit, knocking, speaking briefly with someone at the door and then being let inside.
Although detectives pursued several leads — including the surveillance footage and blood recovered at the crime scene that did not belong to Chavez — the DNA did not match anyone in available databases at the time, witnesses offered little detail, and the investigation eventually stalled.
In 2016, investigators submitted a blood sample to Parabon NanoLabs, where scientists analyzed DNA markers tied to ancestry and physical traits such as eye color, hair color and skin tone to build a possible image of the suspect, CBS News reported.
Still, the killer remained unidentified.
In 2024, the Arlington Police Department partnered with the FBI Dallas Field Office, using the agency’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) — an advanced investigative program that combines crime-scene DNA analysis with public genealogy databases and family tree research — to reexamine the murder, according to the outlet.
After two years, the IGG program produced a significant lead that detectives used to develop additional evidence.
Investigators didn’t reveal what the new evidence was, or whether it was a direct DNA match with Velasquez, but said it was enough to secure an arrest warrant, the outlet reported.
It’s also unclear if Velasquez and Chavez knew each other.
Velasquez’s social media accounts showed the real estate agent traveling with family and friends in the years following the alleged murder, with photos depicting her on trips to Peru, Mexico, Paris, London, Disney World and New York City.
It was revealed that she has an active real estate license and had worked for Pure Realtors, LLC, according to her Facebook.
Velasquez’s LinkedIn profile shows that she’s currently working as an affiliate manager for JC Limo.
She is currently being held on no bond, and her next court date has not been announced, jail records show.
With Post wires
