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ValleyCentral
Man convicted in gruesome Brownsville murder scheduled to be executed this summer
By Steven Masso,
15 days ago
BROWNSVILLE, Texas ( ValleyCentral ) — A man convicted of murdering a Brownsville woman in 1998 has been scheduled to be executed this summer.
(Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)
Ruben Gutierrez is on death row for the murder of 85-year-old Escolastica Harrison. According to Texas Department of Criminal Justice records, Gutierrez’s execution has been scheduled for July 16, 2024.
According to a previous CBS4 Special Report, Harrison was a teacher in Brownsville, and her first name meant “scholar” in Spanish.
Harrison owned a mobile home in Brownsville, and had a mistrust of banks. Due to this, she would stash cash in suitcases in her home. Harrison had about $600,000, according to court documents.
Documents state that Harrison lived with her nephew who was friends with Gutierrez.
On Sept. 5, 1998, Gutierrez and two other men entered the home with the intent to rob her of money she kept in a safe. Harrison was struck repeatedly and stabbed multiple times in the head, ultimately dying from her injuries. Police added that she was stabbed 13 times with a screwdriver.
Harrison, the owner of a mobile home park in Brownsville, had a mistrust of banks, according to prosecutors. That same mistrust prompted her to stash cash away inside suitcases in her home. It was this habit, investigators said, that ultimately caused her to be the center of a murder investigation.
Gutierrez and the other two men, identified as Rene Garcia and Pedro Gracia, fled the home with at least $56,000.
Investigators described Gutierrez as the mastermind behind the fatal attack, but Gutierrez maintained his innocence. The district attorney’s office said that there has been a number of factors contributing to the delay of the execution, which has lasted more than 20 years.
“Gutierrez was set to be executed June of 2020 and at the last minute the Supreme Court stepped in and halted the execution because they wanted to hear his point that he was raising that he was entitled to have a spiritual advisor lay hands on him as the execution was being carried out,” said Luis Saenz, Cameron County District Attorney.
In 2022, Gutierrez’s legal team filed for a motion of post-conviction DNA testing, which was unsuccessful.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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