Homicide suspect arrested at border
Law enforcement arrested a Pasadena man accused of killing a 12-yearold in his Cloverleaf apartment at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Terry Bryan Rivera, 27, was arrested after being on the run for allegedly shooting and killing Carlos Fernandez at an apartment complex March 4. Rivera was arrested at a Brownsville point of entry and is currently being held in Cameron County, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said Monday evening in a social media post.
Rivera was arrested on the Gateway International Bridge, which connects the U.S. and Mexico, according to the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office. Rivera was stopped by Customs and Border Protection Agents after they checked his ID and found he was wanted on murder charges, according to the sheriff ’s office.
Rivera’s mother, Alva Cornejo, 51, made her first court appearance Monday after being arrested and charged with the felony of hindering apprehension or prosecution in the search for Rivera.
Rivera was last seen with his mother, who claimed to have told her son to turn himself in before he fled. At the time, Cornejo said she had not heard from her son since his disappearance, said John Donnelly, a spokesperson with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
However, investigators showed evidence at Cornejo’s court appearance Monday that she allowed Rivera to use her phone to contact people to help him flee — texting and then deleting the texts before giving her phone back, Donnelly said. Investigators also discovered that Cornejo was researching how to get to the Mexican border on the internet, he said.
Cornejo is currently being held at the Harris County Jail with a bond set at $25,000.
Ashley Rostro, Fernandez’s mother, told ABC 13 that Rivera had been abusive in the past, breaking into her apartment March 1 — three days prior to the shooting.
Rostro claimed Rivera entered the apartment through a window, stole a gun she owned and later threatened her and her family with it, grabbing her by the neck and pushing his way into the apartment.
Rostro told deputies her gun was stolen by Rivera in passing, but it wasn’t mentioned in the initial report, said Harris County
Sheriff’s Office senior deputy Thomas Gilliland. Rostro believed her gun was taken by Rivera but had no evidence to support it, Gilliland said Rostro inquired about getting a restraining order against Rivera three days before her son was killed, Gilliland said. A restraining order was not made before the shooting.
On the day of the shooting, Rostro told ABC reporters that Rivera entered the apartment through a window and began to threaten her. Fernandez ran into the room after hearing the commotion and was shot four times, she said.
“He’s my protector,” Rostro said to reporters. “He ran in there trying to save me.”
Rivera has been charged with capital murder in Fernandez’s death. He has an appointed defense attorney. The attorney didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning.
In 2014, Rivera was charged with assaulting a family member but pleaded down to a lesser offense. In 2015, he was charged for shooting a gun out of a moving vehicle. In 2023, he was charged for making a terroristic threat toward another person, but also pleaded to a lesser offense.