Raid at Compound Nets Fayetteville Murder Suspect

There was a Lot More to Incident Than Detailed at Council Meeting Last Week 

At the Aug. 10 La Grange City Council meeting, a young man named Juan Aguado spoke out against local law enforcement assisting federal immigration authorities. Aguado said officers entered his house in March with three guns drawn and took away his father, Juan Aguado Montoya, who was later deported to Mexico. Aguado said his father was an undocumented immigrant who had been arrested twice for driving while intoxicated. Nonetheless, Aguado spoke to the Council about people who have been killed in immigration enforcement operations across the nation and warned something similar could happen here.

This week, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office provided some additional details about Montoya’s apprehension. According to Sgt. Ron Naumann of the Sheriff’s Office, the operation on March 2 that led to Montoya’s deportation was part of a federal fugitive task force looking for a man wanted for a murder that happened right here in Fayette County.

The property near Fayetteville where Montoya lived belonged to Carlos Vera-Flores. Vera-Flores is currently in jail awaiting trial for the capital murder of his wife, Viviana Ortiz Zuniga. Naumann said the man targeted in the March 2 operation was George Alberto Medrano-Gordillo.

Medrano-Gordillo is accused of playing a part in Zuniga’s killing. He was indicted for capital murder on Feb. 19. He is now the third suspect under indictment for Zuniga’s murder.

The other suspect, John Lee Chancey, 49 of Eagle Pass, was indicted on Nov. 20 of last year and arrested on Dec. 18 in Maverick County.

Naumann said officers involved in the March 2 operation had a warrant for Medrano-Gordillo’s arrest. He described the property near Fayetteville as a “compound” where approximately 25 individuals lived in multiple structures. Naumann said officers could have detained almost everyone on the property for immigration processing. Instead, he said, they arrested three individuals with criminal records, including Montoya and Medrano-Gordillo.

Vera-Flores, Medrano-Gordillo and Chancey face identical charges of capital murder, abuse of a corpse and assault on a public servant. One of the law enforcement officers who helped recover Zuniga’s body reportedly suffered an injury due to the means by which body was concealed. That resulted in the charge of assault on a public servant.

The Sheriff’s Office declined to speak publicly about details of the investigation and the pending case against the three defendants.

However, the following details have been previously reported.

Zuniga, 39 of Fayetteville, went missing on April 2 of last year. Law enforcement found her remains in a shallow grave in the woods off Coufal Rd. on April 16, 2025. Her vehicle was recovered in Austin County.

Zuniga’s estranged husband, Vera-Flores, had been criminally charged for stalking her prior to her disappearance. He was indicted for stalking on Jan. 18, 2024. Vera-Flores was free on bond at the time of Zuniga’s death. He was also facing an assaultfamily violence charge. According to court filings, he was supposed to appear in court on April 1 of last year – the day before his wife disappeared – but he did not show up. A warrant was issued and he was arrested on April 5.

All three of the accused remain behind bars awaiting trial. In addition, Naumann said all three have immigration detainers for being in the country illegally.

Aguado told the Record this week that his father had nothing to do with Zuniga’s murder and that they just happened to live on the property owned by Vera-Flores. In addition, Aguado said he was never shown a warrant during the March 2 incident.

“The reason I went to the City Council to begin with was to spread awareness and ensure that the law enforcement working with ICE within this County have the best of intentions, and to make sure that if something did happen that ICE would be held accountable,” Aguado said.

“My intentions were never to make me seem like a victim, but instead bring awareness to an issue that had been looming in this community,” he added.