Crystal Houston was murdered by Ramon Lopez

Crystal Houston was raped and murdered by Ramon Lopez, Murder Comes to Town investigates this tragic crime.

April 15, 2001, in Socorro, New Mexico, and the decomposing body of Crystal Lee Houston Calderella was found in her mobile home. She’d been missing for a few days and police on the scene immediately thought the 24-year-old had been raped and murdered.

She was found lying on her back with her shirt pulled over her head and her underwear pulled down. Crystal had been badly beaten and there were marks all over her neck, indicating she’d been strangled to death.

A few weeks after the murder, police arrested Lopez for shoplifting and when the incident featured on TV, a detective recognised him as a man wanted in connection with Crystal’s murder.

In July 2006, Lopez, 31, was found guilty of felony murder, rape, kidnapping, auto theft and tampering with evidence. He was later sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

Tragically for the Houston family, Crystal’s murder was not the first loss of a child. Just over a year before their other daughter, 28-year-old Stephanie Houston, was killed in an automobile accident. Some people, including her parents, thought her boyfriend Patrick Murrillo had deliberately ran her over. He denied this and when the case was reopened in 2004 a jury acquitted him of the charge of vehicular homicide.

Murder Comes to Town: Tragedy Comes in Pairs airs at 9:00 PM on Investigation Discovery.