Suspected Cyber Bullies Arrested In Connection With Woman's Death
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TEXAS CITY (KRLD-AM) - Last November 29, a young Texas City woman committed suicide with a gun in front of her family after months of cyberbullying. Now two people have been arrested.
Brandy Vela was 18 when she died. 21-year-old Andres Arturo Villagomez and 22-year-old Karinthya Sanchez Romero, her ex-boyfriend and his current girlfriend, are accused of stalking and harassing the teen.
Brandy's father Raul Vela calls the pair cowards who were jealous of his daughter.
He says thousands attended her funeral service, but the online harassment was so bad they kept the location of Brandy's grave a secret.
"Three days later, after her death, people were still making fake apps and putting things on social media about her. I didn't know who I could trust. I was afraid that somebody would come out to her grave site and do some horrific things."
He's relieved that now he can share where his daughter is buried.
He says justice takes time and he looks forward on attending the trial.
Brandy's big sister, Jacqueline Vela, says she thinks of Brandy every day.
She doesn't want to talk about the case until it's over with.
She calls cyberstalking terrible. "People think that because they're behind a computer, nothing will come back to them. They called her so many mean names. It's just so crazy how people can do that. But there's hope because now that people have been charged, it shows law enforcement takes this more seriously."
Villagomez has been charged with unlawful disclosure or promotion of intimate visual material and is being held on a $2,500 bond.
Romero has been charged with stalking and online impersonation with a total bond of $20,000.