TYLER, Texas — An East Texas man serving a life sentence for murdering a 10-year-old child in 2016 was found dead by suicide last week in prison, a report from the Texas Attorney General's Office shows.
Gustavo Zavala-Garcia, 31, of Bullard, was sentenced to life in prison in August 2019 after pleading guilty to capital murder in death of Kayla Gomez-Orozco.
The report reveals that Zavala-Garcia was found unresponsive in the early morning hours of July 2. Officials and EMS attempted life-saving measures, but the efforts were unsuccessful. He was declared dead at 5:43 a.m.
According to the report, he caused his own death by strangulation or hanging. He died in the Wainwright Unit in Houston County.
Zavala-Garcia, who was related to Gomez-Orozco by marriage, was one of the last people to see her before she went missing Nov. 1, 2016, from the foyer of Bullard First Assembly on U.S. Highway 69.
Her body was found four days later in a well on the property, where Zavala-Garcia lived, in the 22100 block of Farm-to-Market Road 2493 (Old Jacksonville Highway) in Bullard.
In the Zavala-Garcia’s indictment, prosecutors contended Zavala-Garcia kidnapped Gomez-Orozco and either sexually assaulted or attempted to sexually assault her. Prosecutors also contended he struck the girl with and against a blunt object, asphyxiated her and drowned her.
His guilty plea deal was made after the district attorney’s office attempted to seek the death penalty.
The defense attorneys said Zavala-Garcia had an intellectual disability, and the prosecution later brought in their own expert who found Zavala-Garcia intellectually disabled.