Man gets 2 years in Rio Hondo man’s 1997 killing

Benito Barrera Martinez

The man who was detained last year by Border Patrol agents in Rio Grande City after they learned he had a warrant for his arrest for fatally shooting a Rio Hondo man in 1997 pleaded guilty to a lesser charge Monday.

Benito Barrera Martinez, who was 59 years old at the time of his arrest, was accused of killing 29-year-old Martin Villarreal on June 30, 1997.

Martinez pleaded guilty on Monday to the lesser charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to two years with credit for 710 days, court records show.

Villarreal’s body was discovered in a rural area on Nelson Road, south of FM 1561.

He was detained in May 2023 after he attempted to enter the country illegally, according to a press release from the Cameron County’s Sheriff’s Office.

The release stated that investigators believed the death was drug related.

Martinez was initially indicted in 2006 and jailed but was later released when the case was dismissed.

Then, in 2014, investigators obtained new evidence and charged him again, but Martinez fled to Mexico, according to the release.

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