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| Pedro Rocha, Jr. | Alex Lucky Gil, Jr. |
Tuesday morning 21-year-old Alex Lucky Gil, Jr. and 21-year-old Pedro Rocha, Jr. were arrested in connection with the 2009 murder of Ronald Philen. Philen’s brother Randall was convicted of the murder in November 2011.
The following information was released by District Attorney Micheal Murray Tuesday morning regarding new information which has developed in the December 11, 2009 murder of Ronald Philen and has led to the arrest of two additional suspects and an ongoing investigation into additional suspects.
A Brown County jury convicted Randall Philen, Ronald’s brother, on November 22, 2011 of the murder, but evidence brought to the attention of Brown County law enforcement since the trial has led to the arrest of two additional suspects with significant interest in additional individuals.
Shortly after Randall Philen’s trial in November 2011, a confidential witness came to the 35th Judicial District Attorney’s office with information that substantiated Randall Philen’s claim that armed gunmen murdered his brother while Randall was tied up in another room of the same house. Our office immediately pursued the information and secured the assistance of the Brownwood Police Department and the Texas Rangers to conduct a formal investigation.
The ongoing investigation has revealed that gunmen entered the home of Ronald and Randall Philen in the early hours of December 11, 2009, intending to rob them of a quantity of marijuana, and shot Ronald Philen multiple times with a small-caliber firearm. Forensic evidence revealed that Ronald Philen did not die immediately, but eventually died from blood loss after being immobilized by spinal trauma from one of the bullets.
Randall Philen claimed that he had no involvement in the robbery and murder, and that he was tied up and beaten by two of the gunmen in another room while his brother, Ronald, was being robbed and murdered. Randall claimed to have called 911 within 5 minutes of his brother being shot, but forensic evidence proved that Ronald Philen had been dead for hours when police arrived. The ongoing investigation includes determining whether Randall Philen was a co-conspirator with the gunmen. Randall Philen is entitled to a new trial based on the new information. If it is determined that Randall Philen was not a party to the crime, this office will act swiftly to dismiss the murder charge against him. If it is determined that he was a party to the crime, then he will be retried in light of all available information.
Our office continues to vigorously seek the truth. We will pursue all credible leads and will not stop until justice has been served for all involved.”
Tuesday morning a Motion for New Trial was filed by Murray along with an affidavit submitted by Bruce Spruill of the Brownwood Police Department.
Spruill’s affidavit confirms the information from the informant and states that the informant believed that he could secure a recorded confession by at least one of the individuals responsible for the murder. Although the informant was not able to get the recorded confession, he was able to obtain information that cooberated the informant’s claims that individuals other than Randall Philen were responsible for the murder of Ronald Philen, according to Spruill.
Spruill reported that results of fingerprint analysis requested from the Department of Public Safety Crime Laboratory in Austin, Texas were received on January 5th. A previous analysis of these unidentified fingerprints obtained from the crime scene were inconclusive according to the affidavit; however with names of those allegedly involved, Texas Ranger Danny Crawford contacted the DPS Lab to have known prints from those individuals compared to the unknown prints from the murder scene. The results returned positive for two of the new suspects named by the informant, according to the affidavit.
“The location of the prints was on a door panel that had been forcibly removed from a door in the decedent’s home and the location of the prints excluded casual contact and indicated responsibility for the forcible removal of the panel from the door,” stated Spruill in the affidavit.
Spruill along with Texas Ranger Crawford interviewed a second informant on January 5th who confirmed that one of the suspects named had confessed to him that he was involved in the murder of Ronald Philen.
“CI2 also confessed to committing a burglary of a habitation where he stole approximately four firearms, at least one matching the same caliber as the murder weapon used to kill Ronald Philen. After stealing those firearms, he took them to Pedro Rocha, Jr. and sold all four of them,” Spruill states in the affidavit. “On January 9, 2011, myself and Ranger Crawford interviewed Alex Gil, Jr. who, then confronted with the fingerprint evidence, confessed to his involvement in the murder of Ronald Philen. He indicated that Pedro Rocha, Jr. was also involved.”
The affidavit further states that Gil stated that four gunmen entered the Philen residence where Randall and Ronald lived, in the early morning hours of December 11, 2009 without consent with the intent to rob them of a quantity of marijuana from Ronald Philen.
The affidavit describes Gil’s account of the murder:
“Alex stated that Pedro Rocha, Jr. and a third suspect entered into the room where Ronald Philen was located while he and a fourth suspect forcibly detained Randall Philen in another room. While Alex and the fourth suspect detained Randall, Alex heard shots fired in the room where Pedro Rocha, Jr. and the third suspect were located. Alex went to that room and saw the victim, Ronald Philen, lying on the floor and gave the location within the room of where the victim was later found by police during the initial investigation. After confessing his involvement, Alex Gil, Jr. was arrested for capital murder. Pedro Rocha, Jr. was arrested for capital murder after a complaint was signed by a Brown County magistrate.”
As of Tuesday morning, both Gil and Rocha were being held in the Brown County Jail with no bond amount set.
Related articles:
Police Report Early Morning Homicide
Brownwood Man Charged with Brother’s Murder
Murder Trial Enters Second Week
Guilty Verdict, Philen Sentenced to Life for Murder of Brother
