Details emerge in death of girl
Teen reportedly threatened to reveal rape allegation days before shooting
Anthony Valle, 43, spent much of a July night with a teenage girl who later would be found dead at his home.
It wasn’t the first encounter Valle had with 14-year-old Layla Ramos, whom he had met a few years earlier after she and his daughter became friends, according to information provided at a probable-cause court hearing overnight Tuesday. Valle initially said that an unknown intruder broke into his residence in the early morning of July 20 on Humble’s River Brook Drive. Ramos was found dead at his home after Harris County Precinct 4 patrol deputies were dispatched around 5:20 a.m. Valle was charged with murder Tuesday by the Harris County district attorney’s office.
The 43-year-old homeowner appeared late Tuesday before Lisa Porter, Harris County Criminal Law Hearing officer, in court, where a prosecutor spelled out the teen’s yearslong relationship with Valle.
The teen reportedly threatened “mere days” before her death to disclose an allegation
that Valle had previously raped her, according to information provided by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office during the hearing.
Valle described his relationship with the girl as a “father, daughter bond” in an initial interview with authorities, according to an outline of the case presented during the court hearing.
But the man told investigators Layla eventually “abused” their relationship by accusing him of sexually assaulting her, and she reportedly began blackmailing him for money.
In the hearing, a prosecutor said Valle admitted that he spoke with Layla the night before she was killed, when they met in her neighborhood several miles from his house.
Valle told authorities that he kicked her out of his car after an argument because Layla wanted Valle to give her his car.
Her family told the Houston Chronicle this past summer that Valle had promised the teen a car the night she died.
The homeowner reportedly returned to his house without Layla, according to the hearing. He said Layla threatened to come to his residence with her “homeboys” and “f--- him up.”
‘She was a friend’
A Harris County prosecutor picked up the story in court, stating:
When Valle returned home, he told his adult son to leave, and he stayed on the couch with a shotgun. Around 5 a.m., he heard a noise, and while investigating its source, he stumbled into a shape in a bedroom doorway.
With his shotgun raised, Valle discharged it in fear as he was “followed by the shape.” He walked toward it, fell to the ground and accidentally discharged his shotgun again when he tripped over the body.
Valle said he didn’t realize it was Layla until several minutes later when he was on the phone with an emergency dispatcher who told him to check to see if the body was still alive.
A written dispatch log obtained by the Chronicle under the state’s open records law shows that Valle realized the girl’s identity during the 911 call.
“It’s Layla,” he said to operators. “She was a friend.”
An autopsy shows the teen was shot at close range, within a foot, the prosecutor said. One wound was to the chest and the other on front-left side of her neck.
“When they said he shot her only one foot a way, there’s no doubt in my mind he knew exactly who he shot,” Carmalita Lugo, the girl’s aunt, said by phone on Wednesday.
During the course of the investigation, the Harris County Sheriff ’s Office homicide department found inconsistencies in Valle’s initial statement.
Layla’s sister, Angelica Morales, told authorities that Valle was being dishonest and said she saw Layla get into Valle’s vehicle “about four or five hours before she was murdered.” Morales told the Houston Chronicle a similar story this past summer. She shared text messages that Layla sent her the night she died.
Valle and Layla’s cellphones were in the same area around his house until about 4 a.m. on July 20. Layla’s phone stopped working after that time, the prosecutor told the court.
Investigators concluded from cellphone data that Valle “enjoyed looking at simulated father-daughter pornography frequently.”
The prosecutor said cellphone data also indicated the man assisted in helping Layla and her sister obtain marijuana and “pills.”
‘He killed her’
Valle was re-interviewed by authorities after the inconsistencies in his statement came to light. In his interview, Valle acknowledged he did not kick the teen out of his car. He told authorities that he took Layla back to his house the morning she died, adding that the teen left the house about 90 minutes before “he killed her,” the prosecutor said.
Layla’s family members hope other charges are brought against Valle involving the alleged sexual assault of Layla. The girl’s mother, Alana Mock, told the Chronicle on Wednesday that her daughter “was too young to have a chance with him.”
Valle remains in the Harris County Jail with bail set at $200,000.