DALLAS — A Texas man accused of stalking a woman is now charged with killing a man with whom she went on a date, authorities said.
Jorge R. Esparza, 22, of Dallas, is charged with murder and stalking, according to Dallas County Jail records. He is being held on bail totaling $450,000.
Esparza is accused of fatally shooting Ricardo Medina-Madriz, 27, of Plano, around 11:45 p.m. Aug. 9 in Dallas. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Medina-Madriz was a registered nurse who was pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Texas-Arlington.
Dallas police officials said officers responded the night of the shooting to the 3400 block of Jeffries Street, where they found the victim with a gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.
Esparza quickly became a person of interest in the shooting, according to court documents. A detective wrote in an arrest affidavit that investigators learned Medina-Madriz had been on a date with a woman the night of the shooting.
The woman, whose name was not released, told detectives Esparza had been stalking her.
“Based on the information provided by the witness, an arrest warrant was obtained for the stalking offense,” the affidavit states.
Esparza was brought in for questioning on the stalking charge, at which time he admitted that he’d shot Medina-Madriz, the detective wrote.
Read the arrest affidavit below.
Esparza PCA Redacted by Dallas Police on Scribd
Luis Matute, a friend of Medina-Madriz, established a GoFundMe memorial fund in honor of the nurse, who was a native of Guadalajara, Mexico. Matute described the grief and anger over his friend’s death as “unimaginable.”
“Those of you who know Ricardo knew what a bright soul he was,” Matute wrote. “He was always optimistic and positive about everything going on in the world. You would never know if he was having a bad day because he always had an infectious smile on his face.”
Matute wrote that Medina-Madriz was “full of dreams and goals.”
Another friend described Medina-Madriz as an “amazing man and caregiver.” She said he was a semester away from earning his master’s degree. His goal was to become a nurse practitioner, Melanie Striplin Thompson wrote on Facebook.
“Our hearts are crushed,” Thompson wrote. “Please pray for all the family and friends.”
“He was really grabbing life by the horns by excelling in his profession and trying to attend every rave he possibly could,” the GoFundMe page for the slain man says. “He had a love and passion for music and displayed this through his music by becoming a house music DJ. If he wasn’t studying, at a rave or practicing music, you would find him usually with family and close friends.”
Medina-Madriz’s cousin, Andrea Ramirez Madriz, wrote that Medina-Madriz had been a great friend since they were babies.
“Thank you for everything you left us: Your smile, your humility, your love for family, your love for your profession, your events, your jokes,” Ramirez Madriz wrote on social media. “I’m not ready to say goodbye. I know we’ll meet again.”
As of Monday morning, the fundraising page for the family had raised nearly $8,000 of its $10,000 goal.