On a quiet evening in Amarillo, a private moment exploded into tragedy: a man shot his girlfriend in a parking lot, then sped off with their two daughters in tow. Now, after more than three years, he’s been sentenced to six decades behind bars.
Mario Alberto Rodriquez, 33, an Oklahoma man, appeared this week in the 320th District Court and pleaded guilty to murder charges tied to the April 30, 2022 killing of 23-year-old Marisela Mendoza. Instead of heading to trial, he struck a plea deal with prosecutors — and Judge Steven Denny gave him 60 years in Texas prison.
That evening, Rodriquez and Mendoza had separately driven to the Texas Roadhouse in Amarillo. They met in the parking lot. What should’ve been a chance to reconcile became a powder keg. The two started arguing. Rodriquez pulled something out — a gun — and opened fire through Mendoza’s car window. Witnesses say she was seated in the passenger side of a Toyota Avalon when he struck the vehicle, then unleashed multiple shots. She was later discovered lying on the ground, suffering gunshot wounds to her side and back. Emergency responders rushed her to the hospital, but she didn’t survive.
As chaos unfolded, Rodriquez fled the scene in a 2018 Dodge Charger bearing Oklahoma plates — with their daughters, aged 5 and 8, in the backseat. Authorities issued an Amber Alert. A few hours later, he was located near Hereford, Texas, and taken into custody. The girls were safely retrieved and placed with relatives.
Court documents reveal deeper layers in this painful story. Rodriquez had long-standing custody arrangements: after a divorce finalized in 2018, he was granted primary custody of the children. In early 2023, he was briefly transferred from Texas to Oklahoma to face separate charges of child neglect and domestic abuse, but those were dismissed and he was sent back. Meanwhile, the grand jury in Potter County had already indicted him in July 2022 — trial was slated for February 2026, until his recent plea changed that.
During the hearing, the court accepted his plea, and Rodriquez was formally sentenced to 60 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice system. In statements outside court, Mendoza’s loved ones recalled her as a woman who “lived life to the fullest” and who cherished every moment as a mother.
This case is heartbreaking for so many reasons: the abrupt end to a young life, the terror of two children caught in the crossfire, the slow, messy crawl of justice. But today, at least, there is resolution — and a long reckoning ahead.