Man convicted of murder a no-show in court

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Authorities urge anyone with knowledge of Oscar Rodriguez's whereabouts to contact the McAllen Police Department at (956) 972-7406.

EDINBURG -- Nora Maldonado sobbed silently Tuesday as the photo of her daughter, Nydia, was displayed on a courtroom projector -- a ghost of the smiling girl she lost three years ago.

An empty chair a few feet away marked an arguably more troubling absence, though.

The man convicted of killing 19-year-old Nydia Maldonado had disappeared.

Oscar Rodriguez, 24, of Mission, failed to show up to court Tuesday, the same day an Hidalgo County jury found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to 40 years in prison.

Authorities now consider him a fugitive, and Nora Maldonado fears he may never face justice.

"I'm a mother with a heart," she said in Spanish. "Since he took her away, my life has changed. I live in hell without her."

‘Afraid'

Rodriguez strangled Nydia Maldonado, his ex-girlfriend, Oct. 31, 2005, during a fit of jealous rage, prosecutors said.

He confessed soon after his arrest to breaking into the Rowe High School graduate's McAllen home, choking her to death and then stabbing her several times with a pair of tweezers to make her death look like a suicide.

He had already been convicted after a trial last year, but a judge threw out that jury's verdict because a witness testified about a polygraph test the judge had already ruled as inadmissible evidence.

Despite the state's damning evidence against Rodriguez throughout the most recent trial, he arrived in court each day with his family by his side.

He sat stone-faced as prosecutors presented the blood-stained rug on which police found Nydia Maldonado's body.

His parents and siblings remained quiet as visiting Judge Jaime Garza handed his fate over to a jury late Monday night.

Rodriguez's attorney, Robert J. Salinas, fully expected his client and the man's family would come back to court Tuesday to hear the verdict.

But by 9 a.m., they were nowhere to be found.

"This defendant failed to show up because he was afraid to accept his punishment," Michelle Puig, an Hidalgo County assistant district attorney, said between court proceedings.

A plea for help

Judge Garza issued an arrest warrant for Rodriguez before the verdict was read, when it became clear the man was a no-show. Garza also revoked Rodriguez's $100,000 bond and directed the court to proceed with his sentencing despite his absence.

Salinas, who spent much of the day appearing flustered and objecting to the court proceedings, did his best to convince the jury to hand down a light punishment even though all his potential character witnesses -- relatives of Rodriguez -- had failed to come to court.

"While we disagree with the verdict, we are bound to accept it," Salinas told jurors. He declined to comment after the jury's sentence was read.

Rodriguez's family could not be reached for comment.

As of late Tuesday night, police still had not located Rodriguez but said they planned to continue their search.

McAllen police posted officers at international bridges and outside the Rodriguez family's Mission home by late Tuesday morning.

Nora Maldonado simply hoped her daughter's killer would turn himself in.

"He knows what he did," she said. "His family knows what he did.

"They are parents just like me. I'm asking them to help."

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Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.