49 year old Phillip Ortega entered the guilty plea Friday in Brazos County district court.
Ortega was sentenced to 45 years for suffocating 79 year old Velma Bryant in the home they shared in April 2013.
Quoting the arrest report, Ortega told investigators he “just snapped” after an argument.
After the murder, Ortega took his mother’s car and several items from the home and sold them for cash and drugs.
October 2024 marks three years since two visitors from Florida were struck by a vehicle while crossing Texas Avenue north of University at two in the morning. One of the visitors died and the other sustained severe injuries. While the driver was arrested for intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury, he was indicted for DWI with a child in the vehicle. And on Tuesday (August 13), 45 year old Jay Griffin III of Bryan pleaded guilty to that felony and to violating probation for a prior conviction of possessing a controlled substance. In a plea agreement with the Brazos County district attorney’s office, Griffin received a two year prison sentence. The prosecutor in that case, assistant district attorney Kevin Capps says there was no evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that intoxication manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide took place. Capps says Griffin’s blood alcohol level three hours after hitting the pedestrians was just over the legal limit at point .090. And the prosecutor said Bryan police estimated the speed of Griffin’s vehicle was between 34 and 53 miles per hour in the 40 mile per hour zone. Click below to hear comments from Kevin Capps, visiting with WTAW’s Bill Oliver. Listen to “Interview with the Brazos County prosecutor in a DWI case where one pedestrian died and a second pedestrian received severe injuries” on Spreaker. WTAW News story published October 14, 2021: Bryan police report one of two pedestrians struck by an accused drunk driver last weekend has died. BPD identified the man who died is 20 year old Pedro Lopez Jr. of Miami, Florida. The second man who was struck remains hospitalized and is in stable condition. The men were struck by a SUV Sunday just before 2 a.m. while crossing South Texas near the Fairfield Inn hotel. The driver who was arrested, 42 year old Jay Griffin III of Bryan, is out of jail after posting bonds totaling $60,000 dollars following his arrest for intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury. Original story published October 10, 2021: Two pedestrians are hospitalized with life threatening injuries after they were struck by a SUV in Bryan Sunday shortly before 2 a.m. The driver was arrested on charges of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury. According to the Bryan police arrest report, the SUV struck two men who were crossing South Texas across the street from the Fairfield Inn hotel near the College Station city limits. Injuries to both pedestrians include fractured skills. As of the time of a BPD news release Sunday just before 10 a.m. both men were in critical condition. 42 year old Jay Griffin III of Bryan is out of jail after posting bonds totaling $60,000 dollars following his arrest for intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury. Texas Avenue between Hensel and Cooner was closed for more than four hours.
While Mark Welsh has started his second year as Texas A&M’s president, the date has been announced of the formal academic ceremony placing him in that position. The investiture ceremony was announced during this week’s faculty senate meeting by speaker Angie Hill Price. Price invited all faculty members to participate before the ceremony in what she described as an “old school faculty processional across campus.” The faculty processional walk and Welsh’s investiture ceremony will take place the morning of October 25th. Click below to hear comments from Angie Hill Price during the August 12, 2024 Texas A&M faculty senate meeting.
College Station police respond to a home for a second time where a woman is accused of using a knife as a weapon. In the second incident, the woman is arrested on a charge of pointing a serrated kitchen knife at the victim. The CSPD arrest report says in the first incident, the woman stabbed the victim’s mattress several times. 27 year old Jennifer Magdaleno, who was arrested following the second incident for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, remains in jail as of August 15th in lieu of a $35,000 dollar bond. College Station police respond to a report of a car running a red light at Texas and Walton and nearly hitting two cars and a motorcycle. The suspect’s car stopped about three miles away in the parking lot of the Tractor Supply store. The driver was arrested for DWI after failing field sobriety tests and the results of his breath alcohol tests were more than two and half times the legal limit at .211 and .215. 20 year old Joel DeJesus-Lopez is also jailed as of August 15th for immigration authorities.
Bryan Broadcasting Corporation