(Guadalupe) — A Guadalupe County murder investigation that remained unsolved for more than nine years has resulted in an arrest.
Guadalupe County Sheriff Joshua Ray announced Thursday that Levi Cotton, 32, a former Seguin-area resident, was arrested Nov. 3 in the Salt Lake City, Utah, area in connection with the 2017 murder of Joe James Rangel, 57.
Rangel was found dead inside his home in the 200 block of Shady Lane in the Meadowlake subdivision on July 4, 2017.
He had suffered multiple gunshot wounds, and his death was ruled a homicide.
“For more than nine years, that case went unsolved. Nine years is a long time. It is long enough for a family to stop hoping, and long enough for a community to stop asking. But I want to say something plainly: this office never stopped asking. A case like this doesn’t close just because time goes by,” said Ray.
The investigation reportedly gained new momentum in February when the sheriff’s office brought on a new cold case investigator. Rather than simply picking up where previous investigators left off, Ray says the investigator went back through the original reports, recorded interviews, evidence and individuals previously documented in the case.
Working alongside her lieutenant in the Criminal Investigations Division and the Texas Rangers, the investigator conducted additional interviews and pursued new leads.
That renewed investigation, he says, eventually pointed authorities toward a suspect who had not previously been identified by investigators.
In 2017, investigators had learned about an unidentified man who reportedly had been at Rangel’s home the evening before his death. However, authorities were unable to locate the man or determine his identity at the time.
Through the renewed investigation, authorities now believe that man was Cotton. Additional witnesses have since come forward, and new information helped investigators follow the trail to the Salt Lake City area.
With assistance from the Guadalupe County Attorney’s Office, investigators obtained an arrest warrant charging Cotton with Rangel’s murder.
Investigators traveled to Utah, where Cotton was taken into custody at his place of employment on the afternoon of Tuesday, Nov. 3. The arrest was made with assistance from the Utah Department of Public Safety’s State Bureau of Investigation Major Crimes Unit.
Cotton is currently being held at the Salt Lake County Detention Center while awaiting extradition to Guadalupe County to face the murder charge.
Ray credited the renewed investigation and the work of Investigator Sharleigh Drake with helping to solve this case.
“I do want to thank the men and women who made this possible, especially Investigator Sharleigh. Drake with the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office. Investigator Drake has been employed with our office for approximately nine months, and in that short period of time, she has already cleared one of Guadalupe County’s unsolved homicides. It is due to her tenacious persistence and elite investigative skills that we are standing here today. I have no doubt, this will be the first of many, that she will clear. Justice delayed is not justice denied in Guadalupe County,” said Ray.
Ray also acknowledged the law enforcement agencies in Texas, Colorado and Utah that assisted with various aspects of the investigation. He specifically thanked the Guadalupe County Attorney’s Office, Texas Rangers and Utah Department of Public Safety State Bureau of Investigation Major Crimes Unit for their involvement.
Ray says the arrest represents an important step toward justice for Rangel’s loved ones, who have waited more than nine years for answers, but acknowledged that the investigation is not over.
“To the family and friends of Joe James Rangel: we have not forgotten him. We never did. Today is not the end of the road, there is much more work ahead of us, but we are much further today than we were yesterday, thanks in large part to some incredible police work,” said Ray.
Anyone with information about this or any other case in the area is asked to contact the Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office at 830-379-1224.
Anonymous tips can also be submitted to Guadalupe County Crime Stoppers at 1-877-403-8477 or online at guadalupecountycrimestoppers.org.
