Texas Executes David Renteria on November 16, 2023
David Renteria, Texas
Updated: Thursday, November 16, 2023
On Thursday, November 16, 2023, Texas carried out the execution of David Renteria. He was pronounced dead at 7:11 pm local time inside the execution chamber at the Walls Unit of the Huntsville State Penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. David was 53 years of age. He was executed for the kidnapping and murder of five-year-old Alexandra Flores on November 18, 2001, in El Paso, Texas. David has spent the last 19 years of his life on death row in Texas.
David was born in Texas. Before his arrest, David worked as a laborer and warehouse worker. He had previously been convicted of indecent with a seven-year-old child. He had also been convicted three times of driving while intoxicated. At the time of his arrest, he was a registered sex offender on probation.
On November 18, 2001, five-year-old Alexandra Flores was at a Walmart store with her parents. David Renteria was also at the store. He had an encounter with a security guard because he left his van running outside his store. Video surveillance later picked him up leaving the store with Alexandra.
The following day, employees at a doctor’s office about 18 miles from the Walmart discovered Alexandra’s body. She was naked and had been slightly burned, with a partially burned plastic bag over her head. An autopsy determined that she had died from manual strangulation and that she was dead before her body was burned. No evidence suggested she was sexually assaulted.
Renteria was arrested on December 3, 2001. A search of his van revealed that there were blood stains that contained Alexandra’s DNA. Renteria claimed that he was formed to participate in Alexandra’s murder out of fear that members of the Barrio Azteca gang would harm his family. Renteria also claimed that he did not kill Alexandra, only lured her out of the store. Prosecutors believed that Renteria acted alone.
Renteria was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for Alexandra’s murder in 2003. About two months before his scheduled execution of November 16, 2023, his execution date was withdrawn by the 327th District Court Judge in El Paso County Monique Velarde Reyes. The execution date was reinstated by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals after El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks contested the ruling.
Please pray for peace for the family of Alexandra Flores. Pray for strength for the family of David Renteria.
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