MOTHER OF CONVICTED CHILD KILLER JOHN ALLEN RUBIO DIES

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Hilda Barrientes, the mother of convicted child killer John Allen Rubio who is currently on death row, died Thursday from complications arising from a malignant lung tumor.

In July 2010, a jury found  Rubio guilty in the beheading of Julissa Quesada, 3; John E. Rubio, 14 months; and Mary Jane Rubio, 2 months. The three children were those of his common-law wife Angela Camacho.

The children were smothered, stabbed and mutilated, according to Brownsville police investigators. Their decapitated bodies were stuffed inside trash bags and found near a bedroom door.

He admitted to killing the children in 2003 because he believed there was an evil presence in them. He even asked one of the officers who first arrived at the crime scene to place him under arrest, according to the officer’s statement.

His his common-law wife Angela Camacho, is serving a life sentence for her role in the brutal slayings.
He remains on death row at the Polunsky Unit in Livingston, Texas.

During Rubio’s February 2010 competency trial, Barrientes, testified that she drank a six pack of beer on a daily basis while she was pregnant with her son. She also admitted to at one time doing cocaine, but couldn’t recall if she did the drug while pregnant with Rubio.

Barrientes testified that Rubio would make comments to her that “God would tell him he was the chosen one.” She testified that she did not try to get any help for him “because I didn’t think he had a problem.”

According to defense attorneys writ presented to the court when they appealed the death sentence, Rubio suffered from neuropsychological deficits, significant brain damage and various psychiatric conditions. “All such testimony would have been highly relevant to Rubio’s competency at the time of trial, his sanity at the time of the offense, and punishment,” the writ further stated.

Barrientes at one time served time in the state penitentiary for drug possession.After her son's conviction and incarceration to await his execution, her father died followed by her house mate. The wheels of the gods, it appears, turn slowly, but inexorably.

Rubio was sentenced to death on November 24, 2003. The sentence was overturned in 2007, but was resentenced to death on July 27, 2010. In June 2018, he initiated the federal appeals process.