Sheriff: Central Texas woman ‘mutilated’ 5-year-old daughter during altercation with relative

Krystle Villanueva, then 24, was arrested and charged Jan. 5, 2017, with capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Krystle Villanueva, then 24, was arrested and charged Jan. 5, 2017, with capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Photo: Hays County Sheriff's Office Photo: Hays County Sheriff's Office Image 1 of / 11 Caption Close Sheriff: Central Texas woman ‘mutilated’ 5-year-old daughter during altercation with relative 1 / 11 Back to Gallery

A Central Texas woman appears to be smirking in her mugshot after she allegedly fatally "mutilated" her 5-year old daughter and stabbed her father-in-law in an altercation Thursday in Hays County, according to the Hays County Sheriff’s Office.

Krystle Villanueva, 24, faces a capital murder charge and second-degree felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The capital murder charge poses a maximum sentence of life in prison or the death penalty. She is being held on a $1.1 million bond at the Hays County Jail.

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Video: Hays County mother charged with stabbing, killing 5-year-old daughter

Villanueva allegedly stabbed her daughter, Giovanna Larae Hernandez, multiple times during or before an altercation with her 58-year-old father-in-law, Eustorgio Arellano-Uresti. Hays County Sheriff Gary Cutler said the girl was "mutilated."

Cutler also said on a Facebook Live broadcast via KXAN that in his 43 years in the police force, "this is one of the worst cases I’ve ever seen.”

“It’s probably the most horrific case in Hays County history,” Cutler said during a Friday press conference. “Our hearts are heavy here today with the loss of a beautiful 5-year-old girl.”

The Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy on Hernandez and ruled her death a homicide.

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The investigation into this “tragic and horrific” homicide is ongoing, HCSO said in a news release.

Officers initially responded to the call from the father-in-law at about 12:51 p.m. Thursday in the 200 block of Willow Terrace in the Green Pastures subdivision. The officers then advised that due to the nature of the call, the SWAT unit should be deployed to enter the trailer, the news release said.

SWAT entered the home and found Hernandez dead and took Villanueva into custody, according to the release.

The Hays County District Attorney said during the press conference his office has not determined what punishments they will seek in this ongoing case.

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Photos from what appear to be Villanueva’s multiple Facebook pages show photos of her, but also the following statement regarding her commitment to her daughter:

“The most important things to me in life is family and succeeding in life but especially my daughter Giovanna La’Rae. I’d do anything in the world for this chick,” she said in the About Me section of one of the profiles.

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