POSTED: Wednesday, September 7, 2011 - 9:42am
UPDATED: Thursday, November 3, 2011 - 4:26am
Seventeen year olds, Eric Hernandez and Roberto Ortega are accused of murdering another Brownsville teen, 17 year old Jose Araujo .
It happened last week, but it wasn't until Sunday that his body was found.
Tuesday morning the accused went before a Brownsville judge to face first degree murder charges.
Police say the teen went missing last Wednesday. The family who lives at Los Cedros Apartments filed a missing persons report with BPD and began their own search.
"Family members were out looking for the victim being that it was not his usual self," says Eddie Garcia, PIO for the Brownsville Police Department.
Family tells police Aruajo would always check in and let them know of his whereabouts.
It was just a few hundred yards from the apartment building that the victim's body was found by a family member, with at least one gunshot wound.
Police say the three teens were acquaintances, they all lived at the Los Cedros apartments. The day the victim went missing Police say the other two lured him to a wooded area near the apartments and shot him, leaving him for dead.
Through their investigation police pin pointed Hernandez and Ortega. While being interviewed, investigators say the teens implicated themselves in the murder and claim it was drug cartel related. Authorities cannot confirm that just yet, however, it is something they are looking into to try and determine a motive.
This case remains open, an autopsy has been ordered on the victim.