Top inset: Mayra Velasquez (Facebook). Bottom left inset: Mayra Velasquez (Tarrant County Sheriff's Office). Bottom right inset: Irasema Chavez (Arlington Police Department). Background: Surveillance footage released by police in Texas that allegedly shows Mayra Velasquez entering Irasema Chavez's home before stabbing her 100 times (APD/YouTube).
A Texas realtor allegedly stabbed a woman 100 times, then traveled the globe and started a family without a care in the world, even becoming known as a "sweet lady" by her peers — and now her secret is out, according to cops.
Mayra Velasquez, 42, was arrested Thursday and charged with capital murder in connection with the January 2012 killing of Irasema Chavez in Arlington, police officials tell Law&Crime.
Velasquez, a licensed real estate agent who was 27 at the time of the slaying, was taken into custody by officers with the Arlington Police Department without incident. She was allegedly caught on surveillance video walking up to Chavez's apartment while wearing a baseball cap and hoodie before Chavez was killed.
"On January 20, 2012, 32-year-old Irasema Chavez was found deceased inside her apartment from multiple stab wounds," an Arlington Police Department press release says. Local officials have confirmed to Law&Crime that Chavez was stabbed approximately 100 times.
"Everything was stained, soaked with blood," Chavez's teenage niece, Linda Yesenia Valdez, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in May 2018 about discovering her aunt's body after being dropped off at her second-floor residence.
"I wanted to see what had happened because I saw a lot of blood, even the white walls were covered," Valdez said. "And then I saw her, face down."
Detectives pursued numerous leads over the years but could never definitively identify a suspect, according to the APD release. The surveillance video allegedly showing Velasquez walking up to Chavez's front door was released in August 2012, but it only featured images of her from behind and the side.
Police said a single drop of blood recovered from Chavez's nightstand belonged to a female suspect with no known relation to Chavez.
"In November 2024, the APD Homicide Unit met with the FBI Dallas Field Office to discuss whether the case would be a good candidate for their Investigative Genetic Genealogy program," the APD release explains. "The FBI graciously agreed to assist."
Earlier this year, detectives reported a "significant break in the case," which led to Velasquez's arrest, according to police. The break and connection between Velasquez and Chavez was not immediately made clear.
Local officials have scheduled a joint news conference for Wednesday, during which the FBI and APD will discuss details from the "collaborative investigation" that led authorities to Velasquez, who currently lives in Dallas.
"For me she was a sweet lady, very outgoing, helpful, family oriented," Lupe Jimenez, another real estate agent who worked with Velasquez between 2022 and 2023, tells local NPR and PBS affiliate KERA. "I'm in shock because she's not somebody I thought would ever do anything like that."
Velasquez's Facebook page shows how she got pregnant and had a child a little over a year after allegedly killing Chavez. She has posted pictures of her winning real estate awards and countless photos since 2012 of her traveling around the world, with visits to Cozumel, Dubai, Disney World, Bolivia, Colombia, Jamaica, Paris, London, Spain, and New York City.
"I talked to her about seeing her travel the world and I told her, 'Hey, what are you doing? How are you traveling the world if we got to sell houses?'" Jimenez recalls. "She said, 'No girl, I got family and so I go visit them and that's what we do so I don't really have to spend a lot of money.'"
According to the colleague, Velasquez told her that she and her husband flipped homes and had some side businesses. Jimenez says that Velasquez was always "very kind, very polite" while they worked together at the same real estate company.
Local Fox affiliate KDFW reports that Velasquez is a real estate agent with Pure Realtors, LLC. Her license was still active as of Monday. She has been denied bond and is being held at the Tarrant County Jail.
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