Suspect Arrested in Murder of Texas Woman Who Vanished Running Errands

Police in the Houston area arrested a suspect in the murder of a 27-year-old woman who vanished running errands and then turned up dead in a highway ditch.

Harris County investigators took Theodore Schmidt, 27, into custody at an apartment complex Tuesday night in the killing of Sabrina Pina, MyFOXHouston.com reported.

Detectives said the pair knew each other, but declined to elaborate on the nature of their relationship.

"This is not a stranger case — they’d known each other for years," Lt. Rolf Nelson of the sheriff’s Homicide Division told the Houston Chronicle.

Pina, of Spring, Texas, disappeared Saturday after having coffee at Starbucks with her husband and then running errands alone. She was last seen before 2 p.m. on a Sonic fast-food restaurant's surveillance video.

Her father found her car full of shopping bags later that night at a Kohl's discount store near the Sonic. Pina's purse was gone.

Her clothed body was found in a highway ditch in Harris County early Sunday morning.

Deputies haven't disclosed what links Schmidt to Pina's killing, according to MyFOXHouston.com.

The young woman was shot to death.

Pina's close friend Tatiana Armenta said she remembers hearing Schmidt's name, but doesn't know much else.

"I don't know who he is. I haven't heard anything about him," Armenta told the Chronicle. "I don't know what to think."

Several boxes of evidence were collected from the Carrington Place Apartments in northwest Houston, where Schmidt was arrested about 7 p.m. Tuesday, and a car was towed away, according to detectives.

Schmidt faces capital murder charges and is being held without bond. He was in court Wednesday morning and will make his first formal appearance on Thursday.

Pina's funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday at Christ the Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Spring.

Click here for more on this story from MyFOXHouston.com.

Click here for more on this story from the Houston Chronicle.