It was nearly 6:40 p.m. on Thursday, September 3, when the doors should have been locking for the night at the Park at Woodlake Apartments in west Houston. Instead, a maintenance worker and a tenant walking in to pay rent stumbled upon a scene nobody expected. Inside the leasing office off Ella Lee Lane, two employees were lying dead on the floor.
One of the victims was 67-year-old Rosie Ybarra, a longtime leasing agent at the complex. She had spent her evening doing the same routine tasks she always did at the end of the shift. Her daughter, Krystal Martinez, later learned that her mother had been shot directly in the head. Martinez said whoever did it gave her mom no chance to fight back.
Ybarra was not just another employee at the desk. Her relatives described her as the main anchor of their family, a woman who raised kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, and foster children over the years. Even at 67, she stayed on the job every day to keep her family taken care of.
Her mother, Elia Ybarra, cried outside the apartment complex after the shooting, asking how the family would go on without her. Her granddaughter, Sabrina Salinas, remembered how Ybarra always walked through the door with a smile after work. Now, the family home feels empty.
Alongside Ybarra, police found 47-year-old Felix dead inside the room. Investigators with the Houston Police Department said nobody in the nearby units reported hearing gunshots or seeing anyone walk out of the office. By the time officers pulled up near Westheimer and South Gessner Roads, the killer was gone.
HPD Lt. Larry Crowson confirmed that homicide detectives are checking nearby businesses and residents for security camera footage. So far, officers have not named a suspect or released any details about a motive. The lack of answers has left the neighborhood uneasy.
For Ybarra’s family, waiting around is not an option. They are asking anyone who was in the area around closing time on Thursday to call the police immediately. They say they will not stop until the person who took her life is caught.
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