BEAUMONT, Texas — The murder suspect, who police in Mont Belvieu and Beaumont have been searching for since last Thursday, is dead.
Osvaldo Rodriguez, 41, who was wanted in connection with the death of his estranged wife in Mont Belvieu, was killed Thursday evening, June 23, 2022, when he was struck by a van in Harlingen according to a news release from Mont Belvieu Police.
He died less than 12 hours after police say he killed his estranged wife, Magdalena Rodriguez, 41.
Police believe he killed her around 6:40 a.m., June 23, 2022, in the Crown Colony subdivision in Mont Belvieu, according to a Facebook post from the Mont Belvieu Police Department.
Osvaldo Rodriguez fled the scene and police in Beaumont joined in the search when his cell phone "pinged" here.
By Thursday evening at around 6:30 p.m. his truck was found behind a business in the 4000 block of College Street by Beaumont Police officers according to police and dispatch records.
The Mont Belvieu Police Department obtained an arrest warrant for Osvaldo Rodriguez and also believe he could have been in the Beaumont area.
Five days later on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, Mont Belvieu Police announced that that Osvaldo Rodriguez had been identified as being killed when he was struck by a van along the North 77 Expressway in Harlingen.
Rodriguez died after stepping out of a vehicle stopped on the shoulder of the expressway and being struck by the van according to Mont Belvieu Police.
Police in Harlingen had been working to identify the then unknown Rodriguez, had no identification on him at the time he was killed.
Harlingen Police were finally able to identify him when his fingerprints matched a Mont Belvieu Police entry into the Texas and the National Crime Information Center, known as TCIC and NCIC.
Harlingen is more than a six hour drive away from Beaumont.
In Beaumont early Thursday morning while police searched for him the Spindletop Center Campus on South 8th Street went into lockdown because of an armed assailant in the area, according to an Instagram post.
Rodriguez was reportedly last seen on foot in the Beaumont area near I-10 and College Street, wearing starched blue jeans, a blue and white button-down shirt with a fitted ball cap.
He was considered armed and dangerous and a $2 million bond had been set for him.
The Beaumont Police Department, the Chambers County District Attorney’s Office, and the Chambers County Sheriff’s Office are working alongside the Mont Belvieu Police Department on this case.
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
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