Accused serial killer charged with third murder

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - The man accused of being Houston’s most recent serial killer was back in court today.  He’s charged with yet another murder.

Jose Gilberto Rodriguez stood silently before the judge today as he found out he was being charged with a third Capital Murder.  This latest charge is for the shooting death of Mattress Firm worker Allie Barrow.

Standing between a Harris County sheriff’s deputy and his attorney, Jose Gilberto Rodriguez didn’t speak as the judge informed him he's now charged with the Capital Murder of Barrow.  His expression never changed even as the prosecutor described details of the Mattress Firm worker’s horrific last moments alive.

“The medical examiner found the bullet wound to her head was a contact wound, which usually means the gun was actually touching the skin,” explains Prosecutor John Wakefield, who told the judge in the probable cause hearing that Rodriguez killed Barrow, stole her purse and her black Chevy Cobalt.

Wakefield says Rodriguez is also on store surveillance using Barrow’s Chase bank card. "Some of the evidence we found against him was that he is seen on video recordings using her debit card in two locations. One was a Walmart."  The other a Chevron gas station.  

Rodriguez was just released from prison in September after spending 20 years there.  Investigators say he cut off his ankle monitoring device early last month before going on a violent crime spree, including breaking into the home of and robbing an elderly couple; killing Pamela Johnson inside her Cypress home; murdering Barrow in the Willowbrook Mattress Firm; shooting, wounding and robbing a METRO Lift driver; and shooting and killing Edward Magana as he worked in Mattress One on Crosstimbers. 

Detectives say Rodriguez stole each of his victim’s vehicles, except for the METRO Lift driver, which is how Rodriguez was caught three weeks ago after someone spotted him behind the wheel of Magana’s stolen Nissan.

“We ask the public to wait until all the evidence is in,” says Rodriguez’s attorney Anthony Osso, who says at their next court date on September 19, 2018, Rodriguez will plead not guilty, although police say they have fingerprints and several surveillance videos to prove otherwise.

These are atrocious accusations against a man who’s now under evaluation for mental illness.  "We’re still evaluating him and we’ll have an expert evaluate him also independently.  Anytime you have these kind of allegations to this extent, it’s prudent to have an evaluation done,” explains Osso. 

Rodriguez is still being held in the Harris County Jail without bond.