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Woman arrested nearly 8 years after allegedly conspiring to lure her partner to rural Texas and killing her

New surveillance footage shows Navy veteran Inez Santa Cruz hours before she was killed by her partner's boyfriend in 2012. Rosa Medina was arrested this week.

EDWARDS COUNTY, Texas — A woman accused of conspiring to lure her partner to remote Texas ranch land and killing her was arrested this week, nearly eight years after the crime.

Leticia Santa Cruz said her daughter Inez had a heart of gold and big dreams for her future, with an aspiration to be a nurse anesthesiologist.

“She had a lot of integrity,” said Leticia. “She always told me, ‘Mom, just live in the moment, that is what matters right now.’”

And, that’s what the 27-year-old Navy veteran did back in 2012, when she agreed to travel from her home in Arizona to Texas. Leticia said Inez's girlfriend, Rosa Medina, told her she needed help watching her children while she worked.

“My sister was an adventurer, she’d go wherever she was needed,” said Santa Cruz’s sister, Erica.

Leticia said there was something suspicious about Medina’s request.

“I had already confirmed with Rosa that I would take care of the girls.  And I said, ‘you’re kidding me, right?’” said Leticia.

Authorities said Santa Cruz had no idea she was caught in a complicated love triangle.

“My sister had no reason to go to Texas,” said Erica. “She didn’t know anybody that lived in the San Antonio area.”

Edwards County Sheriff Pamela Elliott said Santa Cruz was picked up by Troy Ryder at the airport to when she arrived in San Antonio. Airport surveillance video shows Ryder waiting for Santa Cruz to arrive.

“The weirdest part of this -- it kind of gave me the creeps -- was to watch him stand in the corner in baggage and watch her walk,” said Elliott.  “It was like a lion stalking its prey.”

The video then shows Santa Cruz leave the airport with Ryder.

Authorities said Ryder brought Santa Cruz to a hunting camp in a remote area of Edwards County, where she was shot twice in the head and killed. Santa Cruz had been in Texas less than 24 hours.

Ryder later confessed to brutally killing Santa Cruz, leaving her body in that hunting camp off County Road 650.

“It was just his demeanor. I told him, ‘I’ll be back to arrest you, I promise you that,’” said Elliott. That was just one promise Elliott fulfilled in her quest to find justice for Santa Cruz.

In his confession, the now 48-year-old Ryder said he visited friends to establish an alibi after shooting Santa Cruz and later returned to the scene of the crime where those friends discovered Ryder with the body.

Elliott said Ryder took a plea deal and was sentenced to 75 years in prison to get out of the death penalty.

And, nearly eight years later, there’s another twist in the case.

“There was only one way that he would have ever known her,” said Elliott.

Elliott said the long distance may have caused some strain in Medina and Santa Cruz’s relationship. 

Ryder met Medina at her workplace, and in a few weeks became a couple.

Medina was arrested on Monday and charged with 1st-degree Murder, accused of luring Santa Cruz to Texas so Ryder could kill her. 

“They needed to get rid of her so he could become the new boyfriend,” said Elliott.

The news that Medina was involved was something that Santa Cruz’s family suspected all along.

Leticia said shortly after the murder, Medina came to their Arizona home, where Santa Cruz’s brother called Medina a “murderer."

I lost two kids. My son committed suicide due to the depression of losing his sister," said Leticia. "It was like she didn't just take one of my children. She took two of my children."

Her family said Santa Cruz had known Medina since they were teens.

“I would see her as my daughter,” said Leticia. “It really hurt because she would call me mom.”

Elliott made good on her other promise -- this one to Santa Cruz’s family to find justice for their daughter.

"We'll let the evidence speak for itself and then we'll seek justice all the way to the end. I wasn't going to give up-- ever," said Elliott.

RELATED: San Antonio woman arrested for 2012 murder in Edwards County

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