Hearing scheduled for man accused of murdering wife due to 'jealousy'

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A status hearing will be held Thursday for a man accused of murdering his common-law wife due to jealousy.

Abel Giovani Nava is facing a charge of first-degree murder in the killing of 22-year-old Jocelyn Morales on Aug. 16, 2023. An indictment accuses Nava of suffocating Morales with a pillow and his hands.

_{Abel Nava (Cameron County Sheriff's Office)}

Nava's legal team requested a status hearing Thursday, which will be held in reference to requests of evidence.

"We've been requesting evidence from the state so that we can properly formulate our defense for Mr. Nava," Attorney Rigoberto "Rigo" Flores told ValleyCentral. "There is some evidence that we believe is going to be material in the case."

Some of that evidence, Flores says, is in the form of a cellphone and evidence from the crime lab.

Records show several requests for pending discovery items, which include swab tests that were done on the victim, surveillance footage taken from the Flamingo Hotel and a buccal swab that was conducted on Nava.

A second request was made last week for Morales' cellphone, which the defense says contains "exculpatory material." The defense added that a forensic extraction has not yet been done on the phone, and asks to have the state extract all the content from the phone.

Background

At 8:30 p.m. Aug. 16, 2023, deputies with the Cameron County Sheriff's Office responded to the 4000 block of Ruiz Lane in Brownsville, in reference to an unresponsive woman. There they found the lifeless body of Morales, noting several "anomalies" and that foul play was suspected, a news release stated.

_{Abel Nava (Cameron County District Attorney's Office)}

Investigators with the sheriff's office arrived, and developed enough evidence to request an arrest warrant for Nava, who was Morales's common-law husband.

A post from Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz stated that a CCDA investigator was conducting patrols near the port of entries, at Lincoln Park.

"Low and behold, parked in an empty lot was the vehicle matching the description of the vehicle driven by Nava," Saenz stated.

The investigator then found Nava sitting in the park, and placed him under arrest.

At the sheriff's office, Nava provided a full confession and cited the killing to "jealousy problems," authorities said. He was arraigned and his bond was set at $1,000,000.

The status hearing will be held Thursday morning.