Police initially had no known suspect or motive before investigators arrested a tenant and prosecutors described an alleged lease dispute.
HOUSTON, Texas — When Houston officers entered a west Houston apartment leasing office on the evening of Sept. 3, they found two employees dead and initially had no publicly identified suspect or motive. Within a day, investigators had arrested a tenant who now faces a capital murder charge.
The investigation into the deaths of Rosa Linda Ybarra, 67, and Felix Antonio Jimenez Macz, 47, developed rapidly after their bodies were discovered at the Park at Woodlake apartments on Ella Lee Lane. Police first described an open homicide investigation with no known motive. Court proceedings this week have since provided a more detailed account, with prosecutors alleging that a disagreement about lease terms preceded the killings.
Houston police said officers responded about 6:45 p.m. Sept. 3 to a shooting call at 9545 Ella Lee Lane. They located the two unresponsive victims inside the leasing office. Both had multiple gunshot wounds, police said, and Houston Fire Department paramedics pronounced them dead at the scene.
In the earliest stage of the case, investigators said they did not know what had led to the shooting or who was responsible. Reporting from the scene indicated that the victims had been discovered by people arriving at the office after the violence had occurred, leaving detectives without a publicly identified eyewitness to the shooting itself.
Police announced the next day that their investigation had identified Derrick Duane Jackson, 53, as a possible suspect. Officers with the department’s Midwest Patrol and Patrol Support Unit arrested Jackson on Sept. 4. Houston police said he provided a statement to homicide detectives, after which authorities charged him with capital murder in the 228th Criminal District Court.
The victims were later publicly identified as Ybarra and Jimenez Macz. Both worked at the apartment complex. The case shifted again when court documents and a Wednesday court hearing provided allegations about what authorities believe occurred before the killings.
Prosecutors said Jackson had gone to the leasing office because of a dispute involving a 14-month lease. According to the account presented in court, Jackson described arguing with Jimenez Macz before the confrontation escalated. Prosecutors allege Jackson shot Ybarra and then shot Jimenez Macz as he tried to get away. Court records also accuse Jackson of stabbing Jimenez Macz.
Those details represent the prosecution’s version of events and have not been proven at trial. Jackson has been charged, not convicted, and the evidence against him will be tested through the criminal court process.
Authorities also said a pistol and pocketknife were recovered from the hotel where Jackson was taken into custody. Police have not publicly released a full inventory of evidence collected during the investigation or all of the statements given to detectives. The Houston Chronicle reported that prosecutors also described surveillance evidence they say placed Jackson at the leasing office.
A judge set Jackson’s bond at $1 million Wednesday. Prosecutors had sought a bond at that level shortly after his arrest while also pursuing tighter restrictions on his release. The hearing represented the latest step in a case that moved from an initially unexplained workplace shooting to an arrest, capital murder charge and court account of an alleged lease dispute in less than a week.
The Houston Police Department continues to list the case as a fatal shooting investigation with Jackson charged in connection with both deaths. Further questions about the evidence, the defense’s response and the course of the capital murder case remain for the Harris County courts.
Author note: Last updated September 10, 2026.