Chuck Rosenthal: So Tough on Crime That a Suspect Goes Free

Salazar was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, near the border with Colombia but moved to the United States with his mother when he was four. His father still lives in Venezuela and used to work for the state-owned oil company, PDVSA. Salazar is fairly handsome, with dark brown skin, full lips and a squat nose. His shoulders are rounded like a boxer's and he is described in court documents as quite muscular.

He was a member of the Latin Kings street gang, but unlike many gangsters he did not have a rap sheet of arrests. Felicia Ruiz was enchanted by the gangster life, which her parents believe accounted for her fascination with Salazar. Plus, it was all around her. Both Eisenhower High and her north Houston neighborhood were riddled with gangs, her parents say.

"Felicia kind of got infatuated by all the gang stuff and used to talk about it a lot," says Lou Ruiz. "I think a lot of her friendship with Jesus had to do with the fact he was in a gang. She showed me a book one time about gangs and said that 'Trouble' was telling her all about them. He kind of got her in this gang mentality and that it was a cool thing. I told her to stay away from all that, and she said she just liked hearing about it all but that she didn't want to ever join one."

Felicia Ruiz was an attractive, unassuming girl with golden-brown eyes and long black hair that she typically flung over to one side. She had a baby voice, and police later said she looked no older than 14. As a child, she dreamed of being a kindergarten teacher, but as she got older she wanted to be an ultrasound technician.

"She loved her family very much and was the kind of girl who always thought with her heart instead of her head," says Carrie Ruiz. "She saw the bad in no one."

Felicia Ruiz had always been an A/B student, but in 1997 after her sophomore year, her mother pulled her out of school. Carrie Ruiz says she began fearing for her daughter's life because a group of girls were continually threatening and picking on her. As a result, Felicia Ruiz was involved in several fights. She always fought back, just as her mother had taught her, but was never suspended or expelled, says Carrie Ruiz. The only reason Carrie Ruiz gives for why her daughter was tormented is that the other girls were simply jealous of Felicia's boyfriend, Casey Wild.

In one instance, a girl attacked Felicia Ruiz at a school bus stop. Ruiz defended herself, banging the girl's head against a nearby wall and sending her to the doctor for stitches. Carrie Ruiz says the girl who started the fight with her daughter was expelled.

"She did not want to be taken out of school," says Carrie Ruiz, "but I was worried about her safety. I did not trust all these little gangster girls who were going after her. I even had to change our phone number because they were calling all the time harassing Felicia."

Pulling Felicia from school did not end the trouble. According to court records, in June 1999, four months before her murder, Felicia and three friends went over to a girl's house in the middle of the day for a fight. Felicia never threw a punch, but after two others did, she called her older brother Jason Ruiz for a ride out of there. When Jason arrived, he became upset about how the girls were treating his sister and ended up getting arrested for aggravated assault, which ultimately resulted in him getting a lengthy prison sentence.

Despite all the chaos, Felicia Ruiz was studying to take the GED at Carver High School and planned on attending the University of Houston.

It is unclear exactly how Lisa Huerta entered everybody's life. Huerta testified at Ferrel's trial that she met Felicia Ruiz through a neighborhood kid, while Carrie and Lou Ruiz say Felicia met Huerta through Salazar. Regardless of who knew whom first, it was obvious to the Ruizes that Huerta was no good.