Rafael Romero appeared in court Thursday, where a Jackson County judge announced he is now competent to stand trial.
Romero is charged with capital murder in the death of 16-year-old Lizbeth Medina. The beloved cheerleader at Edna High School was killed more than a year ago, on Dec. 5, 2023. Investigators said the teen’s mother, Jacqueline Medina, found her body stabbed to death in their bathtub after she didn’t show up to a Christmas parade that she was supposed to be cheering in.
KPRC 2’s Corley Peel spoke with Jacqueline Medina after she saw her daughter’s killer in court for the first time. Medina said she sat directly behind Romero to make sure he saw her.
“It was terrible,” Medina said. “I held up a little better than what I expected. I just became close to losing it. I just kind of wanted to make a statement that, you know, hey, I’m here. When he walked into that room, we made eye contact. I was feeling so many things. I couldn’t stop shaking. I had to breathe and calm down because I know I needed to sit in there.”
Fighting through tears, Medina clutched a keychain photo of Lizbeth in her hand.
“I held that through the court. I kept looking down at it just so it could give me strength and know that I was there for her,” said Medina.
Romero was expected to go to trial in December of 2024. Two months before the date, his attorney’s filed several motions, asking the judge to push back the date to allow Romero to undergo a mental health evaluation and comb through digital evidence.
Jacqueline says she is relieved Romero has been found competent.
“I didn’t expect anything less. We, as a community, we all knew that he knew what he was doing,” Medina said.
The trial was once again, pushed back. Romero is now expected to face a jury later this year on Aug. 11.
“All I can say is that we live with pain every single day. It keeps getting pushed back and we just want answers. I feel like it’s so long. It’s been so long, and we just want justice. It doesn’t get easier. It gets harder and harder each day. Harder by the minute. But especially now that graduation is coming close. That’s another thing. She could have been graduating. I’ll never get to see her ever graduate. I’ll never get to see her become a nurse like she wanted. I’ll never get to see her be a mom, get married,” Medina said.
Despite the long road to justice, Medina said she does feel confident with the direction the Jackson County District Attorney’s office is going with the case.