A man was arrested near his Flower Mound residence after he allegedly beat his girlfriend, strangled her, stole her car and threatened to publish intimate videos of her if she contacted police.
Lewisville and Flower Mound police worked together to find and arrest 30-year-old Jesus Alberto Rodriguez-Arroyo after the victim, who identified as the suspect’s girlfriend, called 911.
The call allegedly followed a long period of assault from Rodriguez-Arroyo, which officers responded to around 11:34 p.m. Saturday at the Avery Apartments in Lewisville.
Lewisville PD arrived to find the victim, who had visible injuries described by officials as severe.
While Lewisville FD tended to the victim, officers continued investigating the scene, which was littered with broken household items, such as glass, doors, televisions, furniture, perfume bottles and kitchen knives, one of which was believed to have been used to threaten the victim.
According to the investigation, the victim and Rodriguez-Arroyo had been in a relationship for about three months. He visited the victim’s apartment early Saturday morning and the two drank, danced and had consensual sex.
Around 2:50 a.m., the suspect got angry after the victim declined to allow Rodriguez-Arroyo look through her phone.
He left, but returned shortly after 3 a.m., kicked in the back door, knocked the victim to the ground, dragged her across the bedroom and strangled her while demanding the password to open the phone.
The victim, unable to breathe and losing consciousness, offered up the password in fear of her life.
Rodriguez-Arroyo accessed the phone, found intimate videos of the victim and a previous boyfriend.
The victim tried to explain the videos were from before the current relationship, but the suspect became more violent.
According to officials, Rodriguez-Arroyo repeatedly hit the victim with a heavy handheld clothing steamer and the attached electric cord.
Investigators said the attack caused injuries to the victim’s face, body, thighs and knees, and determined the steamer was a deadly weapon, as it caused serious bodily injury or death.
The victim went on to say the suspect threw her across the room, near her child’s bed, and repeatedly kicked her in the head. Throughout the episode, Rodriguez-Arroyo threw decorations and glass vases at the victim, leaving broken glass in her hair.
Rodriguez-Arroyo then prevented the victim from attempting to fight back and escape, and threatened to “split her head” if she tried again. He then forced the victim into the bathroom and cut her hair with a kitchen knife.
During the attack, the suspect sent the intimate videos of the suspect to himself and threatened to send them to the victim’s family if she contacted police.
According to the victim, Rodriguez-Arroyo claimed he was a former officer with Venezuela’s Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigation’s Corps (CICPC) and threatened to use his claimed connections to locate and kill members of her family living in Venezuela.
The victim believed the suspect was capable of those actions because he knew her family’s names, addresses and phone numbers.
In addition to wrecking the apartment and items in it, Rodriguez-Arroyo urinated on the couch and attempted to flush about $2,000 worth of the victim’s jewelry down the toilet, threatening to leave the victim with nothing.
Rodriguez-Arroyo then stole the victim’s car and fled the scene. The car was reported stolen around midnight on Sunday and the victim said Rodriguez-Arroyo then posted the vehicle for sale on social media.
Apparently, the suspect wanted to sell the car to make up “the money he claimed to have spent on her during their the three-month relationship.”
The victim persuaded the suspect to bring her to a friend’s home in Flower Mound to get $4,500 she could reimburse him with.
When they arrived at the house, the victim’s friend and her mother tried to mediate the dispute, and Rodriguez-Arroyo initially agreed to return the victim’s vehicle, stop threatening to release the videos and harming her family as long as the victim didn’t contact police.
However, he later left without returning the vehicle.
Sunday evening, the victim contacted police again after Rodriguez-Arroyo continued threatening her and her family. She told police the suspect could be found at a community pool near South Valley Parkway, directly across from the Lewisville Police Department.
Officers searched the area, but couldn’t locate the man.
Thinking he likely returned to his home in Flower Mound, Lewisville PD called in Flower Mound PD for assistance establishing a surveillance in the area.
Flower Mound officers pulled over Rodriguez-Arroyo when he tried to drive away from the residence in his personal vehicle, which officers observed had a tint darker than 20% allowed by Texas law.
Lewisville officers then took the suspect into custody without further incident.
Rodriguez-Arroyo was booked into the Denton County Jail Tuesday on eight different charges. Cumulatively, his bond was set at $230,000, but is being held on an ICE detainer.
The investigation remains ongoing at this time.
