This online petition is a formal appeal for Alejandra's family to request all the necessary documents for the National Parents of Murdered Children (POMC) to conduct a Second Opinion.

The purpose of Second Opinion Services (S.O.S.) is to provide answers to questions and concerns regarding the death and subsequent investigation(s) of my daughter Alejandra Ornelas, who passed away on August 16, 2016 Case #16-33304.

It all begins at the crime scene, where most errors occurred on that faithful day in, August 16, 2016. We can't turn the page and walk away because that was my daughter, and we want to know what happened to our daughter. It has been very frustrating for the last (5) years and (9) nine months as we have gotten conflicting results during and after the investigation process. We have met multiple times with your office and Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) investigators regarding my daughter's case. It has been well documented and highlighted that the HCSO mishandled (with shortcuts) the investigation during the initial report that treated the case as an unresponsive individual possible (suicide) due to a drug overdose. We are beyond the point of resolve as the HSCO missed crucial evidence in which they already admitted to us that they "messed up" during the investigation process. Therefore, our primary goal is not to point fingers but to get all the facts regarding what happened to Alejandra as accurately as possible and seek justice.

 The saying goes, "Any prosecutor knows that there is one 'witness' in a murder who never lies and that 'witness' is the victim."
You cannot blame me, the mother of Alejandra, for getting a petition and asking the community for help. We want both the Hidalgo County DA's Office and Sheriff's office to reconsider our request for an (S.O.S.) because the HSCO's insufficient and inadequacies during the investigation missed the essential preponderance of the evidence. The initial police response and the 911 call continued to raise legitimate concerns and questions that have irretrievable lasting effects on our grief journey for both myself (Mother) and Alejandra's surviving three (3) children, who are now asking questions. We believe that this irrational thinking caused the investigators on the scene not to follow their standard operating protocol (S.O.P.), which would have initiated an effective crime scene investigation response. This process would have been imperative to protect the evidentiary materials before any contamination, destruction, alteration, or loss, such as the weapon not being recovered, the sheets with bloodstains, or the body moving from another room. If followed the protocol correctly, anything and everything should have been considered evidence. 

The forensic science investigation creed states, "The scene will contain forensic evidence. Identify it, collect it, and preserve it, and it will speak for the dead."
By not securing the crime scene and persevering the integrity of potential physical evidence, actual evidence can be lost or become contaminated, which is a significant concern for us. That in itself questions the outcome that my daughter, without certainty and equivocacy, committed suicide. In addition, the HSCO investigators' lack of judgment has had an indispensable emotional impact on us. Can you imagine for a second if this were your loved one – wouldn't you be outraged just as we have been?

We have to become our investigators as a family to put a series of facts together. The following points should help you consider your decision to exercise prosecutorial discretion in helping us get an (S.O.S.) that would be fairly, neutrally, and equitably counterproductive to the cause of justice and the public good. We are just pointing out the apparent missteps that we have gathered during the last five (5) years and nine months or just questions that have not been answered without ambiguity:

 There was no trace evidence collected at the scene of Alejandra. Did not place the deceased's hands-on bags before the body was removed for autopsy.
Did anyone attempt to destroy evidence, or what, if anything, was damaged or taken from the crime scene?
No ballistic testing, casing, or even recovery of a weapon
How far was the weapon from Alejandra, and how was the body position?
X-ray indicates that no bullet(s) or fragments were noted.
Was the body moved?
Was the crime scene clean? (The toxicology report states that Gojo cherry hand cleaner was found.)
Persons of interest were not tested for traces of Gojo cherry hand cleaner.
Was the victim left-handed or right-handed, etc.?
Was the crime scene staged?
Dr. Farley's autopsy report concludes by saying undetermined. (Wow!)
There was a failure to conduct victimology.
There was no history of suicide threats or suicidal tendencies.
There were no wound structures.
There was no crime scene reconstruction.
There was no bloodstain pattern analysis.
Dr. Farley could not determine the time of death; Chief Medical Forensic Pathologist for Hidalgo County issued an undetermined manner of death in her Autopsy report in August 2016
Contusions on the right leg (two) were found. Were they self or not self-inflicted?
Were there any signs of a struggle?
No fibers were lifted for testing of evidence.
This violence has torn my heart regarding my trust and interpersonal relationship with the criminal justice system. This death has left me (mother) wordless and seemingly helpless in defining my human struggle. Why can't we both respond to this type of death investigation in a more meaningful way that would reaffirm the human spirit and restore some semblance of dignity to my family and the surviving children of my daughter? 

We have seen prosecutorial discretion made when prosecuting Irene Garza's case of 57 years. In contrast, the last predecessor mocked the victim's family and said, "When pigs fly," I would prosecute this case. No matter how long it took, it was the courage to recognize the need for transparency, accountability, and justice without vengeance to seek justice for Irene's family. 

WE ARE ASKING FOR THE SAME. When Irene's case was finally prosecuted, it brought so many families of unsolved cases of the undetermined manner of death with renewed hope for the weak. 

First, the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office should admit all the mistakes during the investigation of this case. Then, the Sheriff should pursue and open a new investigation and with the Hidalgo County District Attorney's office to reexamine the case openly and objectively. We are tired of hearing the Sheriff's Office is my friend or vice versa. The DA's office is my friend. The people of Hidalgo County elect you both; you all have two distinctly different roles and took the oath of office. There are no friends in helping victims of violent crime seek the truth for justice.

As Alejandra's mother and my surviving grandchildren, WE deserve the whole truth to have the proper grief of whether it was homicide or suicide. 

If all the facts of this case remain the same, my new grief journey will begin with Isaiah 61.3 Beauty for Ashes. My family and grandchildren have already suffered enough with the loss of my beautiful daughter. This situation has been compounded by not receiving all the accurate facts of the case in full transparency, which has fueled my emotions into rage, grief, anger, and despair and activism regarding the criminal justice system. We are grieving parents and her surviving children, that we're asking you politely and in writing by submitting an online petition for your approval and reconsideration of getting a Second Opinion. We want to get an (S.O.S.) because nothing has made any sense in the case of Alejandra.

We, the undersigned, STRONGLY SUPPORT Mrs. Christina Rico, mother of Alejandra. However, we demand and declare that justice will be served in objectivity, neutrality, and righteousness by giving Alejandra's case an (S.O.S.).