TIFFANY GALVAN - 17 yo (2010)/ Convicted: Boyfriend; Javier De La Rosa - Brownsville TX

Poster's Note: Initially I thought this story would be about street violence, so I refrained from posting it. Now that police have released more details and made an arrest I feel it belongs here. The penultimate tragic end to a teen pregnancy?

The parents of the 16-year-old boy accused of killing Tiffany Galvan say their son is innocent.

“We feel very sorry for what happened to the little girl,” the boy’s mother, Lucy de la Rosa, said
Monday. “But without knowing whether my son is innocent or not, the
community is already judging him.”

Investigators with the Cameron
County Sheriff’s Department say they believe de la Rosa’s son was
Galvan’s ex-boyfriend and that he fatally stabbed the girl at least 23
times. Galvan was found dead Wednesday near Benavides Park outside
Brownsville, two days after she had celebrated her 17th birthday.

The boy has been charged with
murder and will remain confined at the Darrell B. Hester Juvenile Center
in San Benito until his next court date, in which the Cameron County
District Attorney’s Office will seek to charge him as an adult. His name
is not being released because he is a minor.

On Monday, the boy’s parents
said their son was a good student and a talented football player. They
said they had not ever met Galvan in person nor that she had dated their son.

They also said they did not know the girl might have been pregnant.
A day before she died, the girl had publicly written on her Facebook page that she was having trouble
with an ex-boyfriend. In previous postings, she had said she was
pregnant and believed the boy would soon have to take responsibilities
as the father. An autopsy has not been released.

“He would only refer to her as a friend, and he would say she was inviting him out to places, to the
movies or to eat wings,” de la Rosa said of her son’s relationship with
Galvan. “I would always let him go.”

The boy’s attorney, Rick Canales, said the de la Rosas’ son should not remain detained at the
juvenile justice center because of the lack of forensic evidence.

“There are no eyewitnesses.
The family is also disturbed because there is no murder weapon that has
been found,” Canales said. “I think a lot of people are jumping the gun.”

Sitting in the Canales’ law office Monday, the boy’s parents said that the Tuesday Galvan went
missing, their son had gone to school and later football practice. They
said the boy had later gone out with a male friend and returned at about 9:30 p.m.

His mother said she had to take him to the hospital that night because he had a cut on his pinky finger.

“I feel great pain for the mother of the young girl,” said the boy’s father, Javier de la Rosa, who
makes a living as a migrant worker. “But I want to say, I have a son too.”

Despite the parents saying he's innocent the cut that required hospital treatment is a big sign of guilt. If you hold a knife in a fisted grip and repeatedly stab someone the knife becomes slippery and the hand slides down the blade cutting the pinky finger. I find it frustrating that articles are only about his guilt or innocence and the crime etc when the real story is about 16 year olds getting pregnant in the thousands. I wish someone in the media would investigate this trend and write about it. It needs to stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aren't these kids being taught any morals?? They're far from ashamed to be pregnant at 16 when they write about it on Facebook. I also want to see more written about the option of adoption which is in the best interests of the baby who should be raised in a stable, loving 2 parent family, not by some selfish brat of a teenager and a succession of her useless boyfriends and paid for by taxpayers.

kiwimom wrote:Despite the parents saying he's innocent the cut that required hospital treatment is a big sign of guilt. If you hold a knife in a fisted grip and repeatedly stab someone the knife becomes slippery and the hand slides down the blade cutting the pinky finger. I find it frustrating that articles are only about his guilt or innocence and the crime etc when the real story is about 16 year olds getting pregnant in the thousands. I wish someone in the media would investigate this trend and write about it. It needs to stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aren't these kids being taught any morals?? They're far from ashamed to be pregnant at 16 when they write about it on Facebook. I also want to see more written about the option of adoption which is in the best interests of the baby who should be raised in a stable, loving 2 parent family, not by some selfish brat of a teenager and a succession of her useless boyfriends and paid for by taxpayers.

DITTO

As an adult adoptee I applaud your comment Kiwi!

A teen accused of killing his ex-girlfriend will remain incarcerated at a juvenile detention center while attorneys gather more evidence to determine whether he is mature enough to stand trial as an adult.
The 16-year-old, whose name is not being released because he is minor, was charged with murder last month in the death of Tiffany Galvan, said to be an ex-girlfriend.
Galvan was found dead on Aug. 25 in a remote area near Benavides Park in Brownsville, two days after her 17th birthday.
At the detention center Friday afternoon, Cameron County Court at Law Judge Menton Murray Jr. postponed his adult certification hearing to Oct. 8. Attorneys on both sides of the case said they needed more time to gather information from psychiatrists, psychologists and school and community officials. The judge also ordered that the teen undergo to a social diagnostic study.
Rick Canales, the defendant’s attorney, asked the judge to allow his client to return home until the next court date. He said his parents were “suitable to provide supervision.”
“The mom has said that she would make herself responsible for my client,” Canales told the judge.
But Murray denied the request, citing probable cause that he could be a danger to society.
“It is not a reflection on the parents,” the judge said. “It is a public safety issue.”
The teen’s mother, Lucy de la Rosa, placed her arm on his shoulder and wept during Friday’s hearing. Both parents declined to comment.
Maria Esther Galvan, the victim’s mother, said she went to the hearing hoping the boy would be certified as an adult. She said she plans to continue attending the teen’s court proceedings.
“I feel sorry for his parents, but they still have their son,” Maria Esther Galvan said. “I miss her.”
Maria Esther Galvan, who carries a photograph of her daughter in her purse, said Tiffany’s room has remained unchanged since her death.
“This is only the beginning of the legal process,” said her husband, Florentino Galvan.

$1M bond for football player accused of killing Tiffany Galvan

Police: Victim stabbed 48 times

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/articles/galvan-122246-rosa-accused.html
January 31st 2011

A $1 million bond has been placed against a Lopez High School football player accused of killing his ex-girlfriend.
Javier de la Rosa Jr., 17, appeared in a state
District Court this morning where he was arraigned on a capital murder
charge in the stabbing death of 17-year-old Tiffany Vanessa Galvan.
De la Rosa, is accused of stabbing Galvan 48 times. Her body was
found on Aug. 25 in a remote area near Benavides Park on Browne and
California Road.
Authorities said de la Rosa was seen at and leaving the scene where Galvan’s body was discovered.
De la Rosa’s bond had initially been set at $500,000. However, during
a bond hearing this morning retired Judge Menton Murray Jr., increased
De la Rosa’s bond to $1 million. State prosecutors had requested that de
la Rosa be held without bond.
Several Lopez High School football players were in the courtroom for
this morning’s hearing. Also present were de la Rosa’s parents and
Galvan’s mother.

Murder suspect Javier De la Rosa and his attorney Rick Canales looked
back across the courtroom, Monday. De la Rosa is accused in the stabbing
death of his ex-girlfriend Tiffany Galvan.

Courtesy: Cameron County Sheriff's dept.
Javier de la Rosa


Courtesy photo
Tiffany Galvan

Related Multimedia

De la Rosa Arraignment De la Rosa ArraignmentFull version

New murder details surface during killer’s sentencing trial

by Rafael Carranza
Posted: 04.24.2012 at 6:31 PM



An emotional Javier de la Rosa buried his face in his palm, unable to look at the graphic autopsy photos of 17-year-old Tiffany Galvan, his then girlfriend, and murder victim.

"Prosecutor: Would Ms. Galvan have suffered pain? Yes," Dr. Norma Jean Farley said.

She was the first witness, the forensic pathologist that conducted the autopsy.

Dr. Farley said Tiffany was indeed stabbed 48 times, but not just in her back, she had wounds in the neck, arms and face.

She added that Tiffany was not pregnant when she was murdered, back in August of 2010.

"There's nothing wrong in the uterus, there's no inter-uterine pregnancy, no hemorrhage," she explained in the witness stand.

Prosecution attorney's showed photo after photo depicting Tiffany Galvan's autopsy and the crime scene.

The second witness was the Cameron County sergeant leading her murder investigation.

“When you see stabbings like that around the face, what does that indicate to you?” the prosecution asked.

Sgt. Alvaro Guerra responded saying, “that the killer knew the victim and that he had some type of anger towards the victim."

The cause of that anger remained unknown.

But the sentencing trial on Tuesday revealed many details about tiffany's death at the hands of De la Rosa.

"She had some defensive stab wounds on her arms,” Sgt. Guerra added. “That told me that she didn't die right away, that she tried to fight a little bit to live."

But, it was ultimately a fight she did not win.

Defense attorneys will call on family members to the stand to vouch for De la Rosa.

He faces up to 99 years in prison.

Judge Benjamin Euresti recessed the trial until next Tuesday morning due to a death in the family.


http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=745901#.Um_bYRBtV6k

Brownsville teen sentenced to 90 years, shows no emotion

by Hannah Linn
Posted: 05.03.2012 at 3:53 PM
Updated: 05.03.2012 at 6:15 PM

The courtroom was full of hugs and tears Thursday as the jury read the sentence that would finally bring justice for Tiffany Galvan.

Although emotions around the were high, Javier De La Rosa showed none.

The jury gave De La Rosa a sentence of 90 years in the Cameron County Correctional Facility.

After the sentencing, Tiffany Galvan’s mother and father took the stand to make their last remarks to De La Rosa.

The whole time, De La Rosa stood with a blank expression on his face.

The 18-year-old pled guilty back in March to murdering his ex-girlfriend Tiffany Galvan by stabbing her 48 times.

Prosecutors alleged that De La Rosa killed Galvan because she was pregnant with his child, however autopsy reports revealed that Galvan was not pregnant.

In reference to the jury’s sentence, Assistant District Attorney Chuck Mattingly says this is exactly what they hoped for.

“Unfortunately there are no winners in this situation,” said Mattingly. “But in the end I believe that justice was served.”

De La Rosa faced anywhere between 5 to 99 years for the murder.

Defense attorneys requested during the trial for the jury to consider only 20 years, so according to De La Rosa’s attorney Rick Canales, the 90 year sentence was too much.

“I respect the jury’s decision but I feel the sentence was a little bit excessive,” admitted De La Rosa.

De La Rosa will not be eligible for parole for 30 years.

http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=749569#.Um_bnBBtV6k