Insets, left to right: Damien G. Valdez (Ector County Sheriff's Office), Jessica Rodriguez, her 9-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter (GoFundMe). Background: The area near 8740 Hunter Miller Way in Odessa, Texas, where a 15-year-old allegedly murdered his ex-girlfriend's mom, 9-year-old brother and 13-year-old sister (KIII/YouTube).
A Texas teenager accused of plotting to shoot his 15-year-old ex-girlfriend outside school, only to change his mind and kill her family instead, will stand trial as an adult.
An Ector County judge this week certified that Damien Gabriel Valdez will be tried as an adult in connection with the December 2025 triple homicide in Odessa, local NBC affiliate KWES reported. He is currently facing one count of capital murder of multiple persons, a first-degree felony.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Valdez was 15 at the time he allegedly shot and killed 39-year-old Jessica Rodriguez, as well as her 9-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter.
Police say the violence followed a breakup between Valdez and his 15-year-old girlfriend.
According to investigators, the suspect initially planned to shoot the girl outside her school but "changed his mind" and instead went to her apartment, where her family members were home. He then fatally shot Rodriguez, his ex's mother, before turning the gun on his ex's two younger siblings and fleeing the area on foot, police said.
Officers with the Odessa Police Department responded to reports of gunfire around 5:45 p.m. on Dec. 9, 2025, at the 87th Street Apartments on Hunter Miller Way. When they arrived, they found the three victims dead inside the residence.
Police arrested the teen roughly 40 minutes later after spotting him walking along Andrews Highway, according to Odessa Police Chief Mike Gerke.
Authorities allegedly recovered a handgun from Valdez, but have not publicly said how he obtained the firearm believed to have been used in the attack.
Officials have not said whether the ex-girlfriend was inside the apartment when the shooting occurred.
Following his arrest, Valdez was held at the Ector County Youth Center while the state sought to transfer the case to adult court.
Odessa Police Chief Mike Gerke described the horrific attack as being "deliberate."
"It was such a tragic and cowardly act of violence," Gerke said during a December news briefing on the murders. "It's the kind of thing that really marks a community. Particularly in the holiday season, it's a hurtful, horrible thing."
During a certification hearing held this week, a judge ruled the teen should face prosecution as an adult, KWES reported. Such hearings allow a court to determine whether a juvenile defendant should be transferred to adult court based on factors such as the seriousness of the offense and the defendant's background.
With the ruling, the case will now proceed through the adult criminal court system. Under Texas law, capital murder of multiple persons is punishable by life in prison for defendants who were under 18 at the time of the crime.
Prosecutors have said the case will next go to a grand jury, local CBS affiliate KOSA reported.
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