Officials await autopsy in MacArthur HS prom...
Police are still waiting for autopsy results on 17-year-old Jacqueline Gomez. They say she stayed at the Hyatt...
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Teen girl found dead in hotel after Aldine ISD prom
A series of text messages offered new details into the death of Jacqueline Gomez, the 17-year-old Aldine ISD senior found dead Saturday in a Houston motel room the morning after her prom. The texts, sent from an account identified as Gomez's date, also indicate investigators believe the girl probably overdosed.
The date hasn't spoken publicly since Gomez was found dead and he could not be reached for comment on Monday. In text messages to a friend of Gomez, however, he recounted his attempts to wake her and his reactions when she did not.
Yet nobody can be certain how the MacArthur High School student died until autopsy results are complete - which could take several weeks, the Harris County medical examiner said. And that has the date and Gomez's family and friends anxiously waiting for the mystery to be solved.
Meanwhile, her friends and family refute any suggestion that Gomez was ever a "party girl," saying she spent most of her time working at a Kroger grocery and preparing to graduate in June.
Her mother, Juana Barron, says waiting is the hardest job of all, as she finds what happened to her daughter unimaginable and unexplainable. Authorities have cautioned her against talking about the case until the evidence has been gathered, she said.
The date sent the text messages late Saturday afternoon, seven hours after he woke up in North Houston Hyatt room that he shared with Gomez. He found her not breathing.
"He was posting pictures of himself crying on Instagram. So I a sent him a text that day to ask what had happened to my girl," said Justice Gonzalez, a close friend of Gomez who saw the couple leave the prom together Friday night to go to that room. Authorities report Gomez was found dead in her bed about 9:20 the next morning.
"They said she overdosed," part of the text reads, likely referring to law enforcement officials.
He went on.
"I woke up. I tried waking her but she wouldn't," the date texted back, adding four frowning faces. "I was screaming and crying telling her to wake up. But she didn't. She didn't," He ended his text with two frowning faces with tears.
He stated she had appeared "perfectly fine and happy" when they left the "Miami Night" prom. She also seemed "happy" when they both went to sleep, he said.
He had told authorities that they had some alcohol, but said in a text to the friend that Gomez had also taken the painkiller hydrocodone.
He denied knowing where she got the prescription drug and stated, "I shoulda took them away and flushed em (frowning face with tear). I miss my girl."
When asked how many pills she consumed, he said, "I have no clue."
Gonzalez said she had never seen Gomez take or talk about taking any drugs.
"She had met her prom date in middle school. He was a couple of years older and no longer a student there," Gonzalez said. "I remember telling her to be careful when she started to leave."
The date told Gonzalez that the alcohol and pills weren't consumed until the couple went up to their room. But Gonzalez said she noticed Gomez acting "different" before she left the prom while her date appeared to act normally.
"She was stuttering, not talking clear. Her eyes were low, like she was dizzy," Gonzalez said.
On the date's Instagram site, he put a picture of a broken heart and vowed his date "would not be forgotten."
"I'm blessed for everyday God still gives me," he added at the end.
On Monday afternoon, Gomez's friends and co-workers held a fundraiser at the Kroger where she once worked to help raise money for her funeral.
"Everybody keeps twisting up the story. But I can tell you she wasn't a party girl," said Sydney Santiago-Reed, who helped sell hotdogs and other food.
Gomez's body had no outward signs of injury, authorities said after the autopsy was performed Monday. The results of other tests are pending.
