Murder of Joey Fischer
On March 3, 1993, Saint Joseph Academy high school senior Albert Joseph "Joey" Fischer Jr. was shot dead outside his home in Rancho Viejo, an upscale community north of Brownsville, Texas. Dora Cisneros, the mother of his ex-girlfriend, was responsible for orchestrating Fischer's murder after he broke up with her daughter Cristina. Fischer and Cristina had broken up the previous summer, but Cisneros became obsessed with their relationship and insisted that Fischer date her daughter again. After he refused a US$500 offer from Cisneros, she consulted María Mercedes Martínez, a fortune teller, to cast a spell on him.
The fortune teller told Cisneros she was unable to cast spells, but Cisneros insisted that she would pay to have someone beat him up. She decided later to have Fischer murdered instead, and told Martínez she was willing to pay US$3,000 to anyone who would kill him. Martínez offered to help, and Cisneros gave her the money and a photograph of Fischer. Martínez gave these to one of her clients, Daniel Orlando Garza. He contacted two Mexican hitmen from Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Israel Olivarez Cepeda and Heriberto Puentes Pizaña, who killed Fischer and then escaped to Mexico. The killing drew national attention because of the unusual circumstances surrounding the crime.
Garza, troubled by what he had done, confessed to the police that he acted as a middleman in Fischer's murder. He cooperated with the police to incriminate Martínez, who then aided in Cisneros's arrest. Cisneros and Garza were eventually sentenced to life in prison by a state court in 1994, but Cisneros's sentence was overturned. She was convicted again in 1998 by a federal court and sentenced to life in prison. Martínez was given a 20-year sentence after pleading guilty and testifying against the two in court. Though U.S. officials tried to have the two assassins extradited, the hitmen never faced trial in Texas.
Background
Albert Joseph "Joey" Fischer Jr. was born in Brownsville, Texas, on January 16, 1975. His parents were A. J. "Buddy" Fischer and Corinne Nelson. The couple divorced in 1987 and remarried separately. Fischer lived with his mother and his stepfather Vernon "Beau" Nelson. He was a senior honors student at Saint Joseph Academy, a Catholic private school in Brownsville. He had a 98.5 grade-point average, was ranked eleventh in his class, and was going to attend the honors program at the University of Texas at Austin on graduation. At 18 years old, he enjoyed basketball and was a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers, loved computers, and talked about pursuing a career as an engineer. Along with two other classmates, he was voted "Most Sarcastic" by his high school class, and was known for sometimes acting foolish, and having a good sense of humor. He was also "often attracted to the more Latina girls of the school". During his junior year, he dated Cristina, who was a year younger than him. Most of Fischer's friends described her as quiet, although some said she was only reserved with people she did not know. Cristina's mother Dora Garcia Cisneros approved of Fischer's relationship with her daughter and thought he was potentially a good candidate for marriage. In Cisneros's eyes, Fischer was an overachieving student from a good family, and "wasn't wild, like many of the St. Joe boys".Cisneros grew up in a well-off ranching family from Los Indios, Texas, and was married to David Cisneros, a surgeon from Brownsville. They had five children. She was a well-respected volunteer in the local medical community, and was president of the southern chapter of the Cameron-Willacy Counties Medical Society. The association where she volunteered helped raise funds for medical scholarships. In addition, people close to Cisneros said she was a practicing Catholic and that she cared a lot for her family. She volunteered at St. Joe, and was well-liked in the social group she was part of. Since Los Indios was mostly a ranching community close to the U.S.-Mexico border, Cisneros's religiosity was heavily influenced by curanderismo, a practice of religious and folk medicine healing rooted in ancient Mexican culture.
In Matamoros and Brownsville, curanderos—practitioners of curanderismo—offered works of white and black magic. These services are known as brujería. People consult healers and fortune tellers for help with relationships: to revive their romance, to end a marriage, to make someone fall in love, or to hurt someone. People also consult them to drive away negative energy, predict the future and dangerous events, to improve their health, or to bring positive energy. Cisneros grew closer to curanderismo after her firstborn, David, died after being thrown from a moving vehicle by a friend while he attended St. Joe as a student in 1974. People close to Cisneros described her as a person who endured several tragic events growing up. One of her uncles committed suicide when she was young, and her brother drowned as a teenager. But, several others who were close to her maintained that after her son died, Cisneros started to show signs of insanity, became more protective of her children, and began visiting local curanderas.
Relationship with girlfriend
Fischer and Cristina often did outdoor activities together, but Fischer's stepmother thought they were only friends. She said that she never saw them hold hands or behave in a way that suggested intimacy. According to his friends, Fischer went with Cristina to South Padre Island, Texas, during spring break and had sex with her in her parents' condominium. They said that he did not brag about it, and in fact seemed to regret his decision. Cristina denied this ever happened. Later that year they attended St. Joe's prom together. In June 1992, Fischer broke up with Cristina; he told one of his friends that their relationship was only physical, and he did not feel an emotional attachment to her. Fischer had given Cristina his ring while they were dating, and once they broke up he asked her to return it. Cristina refused.During the first weeks of the summer, Cisneros called Fischer several times and asked him why he had broken up with her daughter. He told her Cristina was very kind, but he wanted to be single and date other girls. Cisneros then called Fischer's father, Buddy, and asked him why his son had broken up with Cristina. Fischer was angry that Cristina did not return his ring, and wrote a letter to her saying that he wanted his ring in ten days, or he would take action. Cisneros then called Buddy and told him she wanted to talk about his son's ring and other things; both agreed to meet at a Burger King. Cisneros asked Buddy why Fischer broke up with Cristina, and Buddy said that was between his son and her. He said his son was old enough to make his own decisions, and that he would not get involved. Cisneros then asked him if he knew Fischer drank, and he responded that at his son's age it was not uncommon to drink. Cisneros then said she had seen Fischer drunk once before, but his father responded by saying if he had been drunk before, it was not in his presence. Sex never came up in the conversation. Buddy told Cisneros he would speak to his son about acting like a gentleman; Cisneros promised to return Fischer's ring. Buddy recalled the meeting was awkward but friendly.
Buddy returned home and told Fischer to apologize to Cristina if he had offended her, and to tell her that they should be friends. It is not known if he took his father's advice, but according to one of Fischer's friends, Cisneros continued to call him after her meeting with his father. One of his friends stated that Fischer said Cisneros had offered him US$500 to get back with her daughter, but he refused. Fischer grew angry at Cisneros's insistence that he rekindle his relationship with Cristina and eventually called her and told her to stop. Once Fischer's senior year started, he began to date a new girl, Marianela Caballero. He invited her to the homecoming dance, but they did not date for their first semester because Marianela did not want any commitments. However, by the start of their second semester, they began dating. Around that same time, Cristina also started dating another boy. Fischer told his friends that he was fine with Cristina dating other boys.
Murder
On Wednesday, March 3, 1993, in Rancho Viejo, Texas, an affluent community just north of Brownsville, Fischer woke up early to get ready for school. Just before 7:00 am, he went to the garage and reversed his mother's car into the circular driveway at his home at 3 Cortez Avenue. He then walked toward the corner of the house and grabbed a garden hose to spray water on the car's windows, which were covered in dust. As he sprayed the car, someone came from behind and shot him twice at point-blank range with what would later be identified as a.38 Super pistol. One of the shots penetrated his chest and the other his brain. Fischer's mother looked out the window to see what had happened, thinking the noise came from one of the house's palm tree branches falling on the roof, or that the car had backfired. She did not see the car, and thought that perhaps her son had gone to a convenience store to pick up something, but Fischer's brother Eric told her he could see the car parked on the driveway.She went to the garage and saw Fischer's body lying face up on the driveway. She told her daughter Kathy to call 911, and her father, Buddy, who lived a few minutes away. Buddy dressed and headed toward the house. He took a shortcut off Texas highways 77 and 83 to reach the house, and recalled going over at some point, and brushing off a few cars along the way by gesturing with his left hand. Once he reached Rancho Viejo, he ignored the entrance and drove instead through a field of palm trees. As he drew closer to Fischer's house, he heard police sirens at a distance. When he arrived, he saw his son's body holding a garden hose. The running water had covered the entire roadway with Fischer's blood. Witnesses, including Eric, recall seeing a short-bearded Hispanic man in his mid-20s driving a white, four-door vehicle with Mexican license plates speeding away after the attack. Kathy then phoned one of Fischer's closest friends before school started and asked him if he knew if Fischer had any enemies. Fischer's friend could not think of anyone who disliked him, and only recalled that he and Fischer had been in an altercation with a group of boys at a football game.
The evening before Fischer's burial, over 600 people attended a Catholic service at St. Mary's Church in Brownsville. His parents decided to have an open casket to allow attendees to kneel and pray next to the coffin. The funeral took place in the same church. Many people were in attendance including Buddy and Corinne's acquaintances, and Fischer's high school classmates. His girlfriend Marianela Caballero and her mother attended both services. Cristina, his ex-girlfriend, was also at the services, but her mother was not present. Fischer was buried at the Mont Meta Memorial Park in San Benito, Texas. In the days after the funeral, several of Fischer's longtime friends and their parents gathered at Buddy's house for moral support. Fischer's family moved out of the house where he was killed, and went to live with Corinne's mother. The day of the murder, the Brownsville police offered a reward of US$5,000 to anyone who could assist in the arrest of any individual involved in the murder. A week later the reward was increased to US$20,000. Five months after the murder, Fischer's house was sold at a US$18,000 loss.