Janeecia Mason was walking with another prostitute near an industrial area in Dallas on a Friday night last month when she got into a Chevy Monte Carlo with tinted windows.
Joseph Aparicio was driving the red car and at one point shot her, according to the warrant affidavit that supports his murder suspicion booking.
Four days after Aparicio picked Mason up, he dragged the 19-year-old’s body from another vehicle and dumped it on the banks of the Trinity River in Fort Worth on March 21, the affidavit said.
One person on March 23 reported finding a dead woman on the river bank at 350 Precinct Line Road.
Mason was naked and lying on a bed of stones. No clothing or personal belongings were found nearby. The area where Mason was abandoned is isolated and it did not appear to detectives that that was where she died.
Tracks and prints in the dirt between the victim’s body and the gravel strip at the side of the road indicated someone had dragged her there.
Mason had been reported missing and Fort Worth homicide detectives, including Michael Sones, who wrote the report in the affidavit, spoke to her mother. Investigators learned that Mason may have worked as a prostitute, and after Mason’s disappearance, her mother received bags from the hotel where Mason had slept.
Detectives learned of Mason’s exact whereabouts March 17 from data provided by AT&T, their wireless service provider, in response to a search warrant.
Detectives reviewed security camera video from businesses near this location on Walnut Hill Lane and Shady Drive and found a Monte Carlo and two of the digits on his license plate.
Detectives narrowed the search for records to all sequential-digit red Monte Carlos registered in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area and found one vehicle in Haltom City. The name of the registered owner is blanked out in the affidavit, although the registered owner’s Kinman Street address is linked to where 29-year-old Aparicio resides, according to the affidavit.
“I believe Joseph transported Janeecia in his Jeep Patriot from his home … to the body dump at block 350 of Precinct Line Road under the bridge over the Trinity River there,” Sones wrote. “His jeep can then be seen returning to his apartment afterwards.”
Detectives appear to have questioned Aparicio. The content of his statements is not included in the affidavit. Aparicio ended the discussion, according to the affidavit. Aparicio said he rode the Monte Carlo on March 17 in the Dallas area.
The affidavit does not refer to a gun or bullet casings that would indicate where Mason was shot.
A second search warrant found a swab in the passenger compartment of the Monte Carlo that tested positive for suspected blood.
In Aparicio’s bedroom, police said they found clothing similar to the clothes Mason was wearing on March 17.
“The untimely passing of my sweet daughter has left the family heartbroken and devastated as we continue to seek answers and closure,” Mason’s mother, Barbara Taylor, wrote on a GoFundMe page. “At the tender age of 19…God called her home.”
Mason graduated from Trinity High School in Euless last year, where a balloon launch was held in her honor on Thursday. Her funeral was held Saturday in Shreveport, Louisiana, where she previously resided.
Originally published Apr 4, 2023 9:04pm
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