Court proceedings described a lease disagreement, surveillance evidence and the arrest of a longtime tenant after the two workers were found dead.

HOUSTON, Texas — A 53-year-old Houston man is charged with capital murder after prosecutors said a disagreement over his apartment lease ended with the fatal shootings of two leasing-office employees, Rosa Linda Ybarra, 67, and Felix Antonio Jimenez Macz, 47. Derrick Duane Jackson was arrested the day after the Sept. 3 killings at the Park at Woodlake apartments in west Houston, according to police and court accounts.

The case moved beyond the first hours of uncertainty when prosecutors described Jackson’s alleged account during a September court proceeding. Authorities said Jackson had gone to the leasing office because of a disagreement involving a 14-month lease. What began as a housing dispute became the central allegation in a capital murder case after investigators connected Jackson to surveillance footage, obtained a statement from him and recovered evidence from a hotel room. Houston police identify Jackson as 53, although several early reports based on court information listed his age as 48. The police identification is used here.

According to an account of the hearing reported by ABC13 and the Houston Chronicle, Jackson told investigators that he argued with Jimenez Macz inside the leasing office and became angry when the employee began speaking in what Jackson described as “Spanglish.” Ybarra then commented on the lease, according to the court account. Prosecutors said Jackson later described that exchange as the point when he “snapped.” The statements are allegations presented in the criminal case and have not been tested at trial. The available reporting does not establish that the language used by an employee, rather than the larger lease dispute, was the legal motive for the killings.

Prosecutors alleged that Jackson first shot Ybarra and then turned toward Jimenez Macz as he tried to get away. Court accounts said Jimenez Macz was shot more than once and also stabbed. The criminal complaint had previously alleged that Jackson shot Ybarra and shot and stabbed Jimenez Macz during the same episode. Houston police said both employees suffered multiple gunshot wounds. The descriptions in court records are more detailed than the Police Department’s initial public statement, which identified Jackson as a suspect but did not describe the sequence of the attack. Authorities have not publicly released a complete evidentiary record, and the allegations against Jackson remain unproven.

Surveillance footage became a significant part of the investigation, according to later reporting. The Houston Chronicle reported that video from the leasing office showed a man entering at about 5:30 p.m. and leaving roughly 12 minutes later. Jackson later acknowledged to authorities that he was the person shown entering and leaving the office, prosecutors said. The bodies were not immediately discovered. Police were called to the complex at 9545 Ella Lee Lane at about 6:45 p.m., after a maintenance employee and a resident who had gone to the office to pay rent encountered the victims. Houston Fire Department paramedics pronounced both employees dead at the scene.

The arrest followed the next day. Houston police said officers from the department’s Midwest Patrol and Patrol Support Unit took Jackson into custody on Sept. 4. He then provided a statement to homicide detectives and was booked into the Harris County Jail, police said. Later court reporting said Jackson had gone to a hotel after leaving the complex. Investigators recovered a pistol and a pocketknife there, according to ABC13, while the Houston Chronicle reported that shell casings recovered from the hotel were linked by authorities to the shooting. A magistrate’s order cited by Law&Crime also said forensic evidence was recovered from Jackson’s motel room.

The information presented in court substantially changed the public picture of the case. On the evening of Sept. 3, police knew that two workers had been found dead inside the leasing office but said no witness had seen the shooting. Investigators initially said the case did not appear to be a murder-suicide and believed another person was involved. Detectives began reviewing video and interviewing possible witnesses. By the following day, police had identified Jackson as a possible suspect, arrested him and obtained a statement. Within days, prosecutors were publicly alleging that the violence grew out of a dispute over the terms of his lease.

Ybarra’s death also left a network of relatives and people who had depended on her for care. Her family described her as a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, foster mother and longtime caregiver. A family fundraiser said she was a longtime resident of Houston’s Oak Forest area and a 1977 graduate of Waltrip High School. Relatives said she had spent years helping other people before working in apartment leasing. Law&Crime, citing an interview with KHOU, reported that Ybarra had previously operated a child care service and helped neighborhood families who needed transportation or after-school care.

Her relatives said those responsibilities had continued late in her life. Ybarra was caring for an adult son with a disability and was in the process of adopting a young foster child, according to family accounts. Her granddaughter, Saleen Salinas, told KHOU that the last conversation she remembered with Ybarra ended with her grandmother saying she would be waiting when Salinas returned home and telling her she was loved and that Ybarra was proud of her. The family later established a fundraiser to help with funeral expenses and to support relatives and children who had relied on Ybarra. Publicly available reporting contains far less biographical information about Jimenez Macz, and reliable details about his family and life outside the apartment complex have not been released.

The criminal case carries allegations of one of the most serious offenses under Texas law. Houston police said Jackson is charged with capital murder in the 228th Criminal District Court. Early reports differed on whether he faced one capital murder count encompassing both deaths or references to two counts appeared in court material; the Police Department’s public statement describes the charge in the singular. A later hearing resulted in a $1 million bond, according to ABC13 and the Houston Chronicle. Those proceedings determine pretrial conditions, not guilt. Jackson is accused of the killings, and the facts alleged by prosecutors must still be established through the court process.

The next phase of the case will determine how much of the prosecution’s account survives formal challenge. Jackson remains charged with capital murder, and the most recently reported bond is $1 million. Prosecutors have identified surveillance footage, statements attributed to Jackson and evidence recovered after his arrest as parts of their case, but no trial result or final judgment has been reported. The allegations against him therefore remain unresolved in court.

Author note: Last updated October 20, 2026.