Background: News footage of the scene at the Zamarripa home on Aug. 31, 2024 (KENS). Inset: Rachel Zamarripa (Bexar County Sheriff”s Office).
A Texas woman has pleaded guilty to murder a year after she viciously stabbed her mother to death while acting as her caregiver.
Rachel Zamarripa, 22, entered a guilty plea almost one year to the day after she called 911 and said she killed her mother, 58-year-old Linda Zamarripa. On Aug. 31, 2024, Rachel Zamarripa told dispatchers that she stabbed her mother. Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said during a press conference days after the incident that first responders arrived to a “grisly” scene at the Zamarripa home, and Linda Zamarripa had been stabbed “well over a couple dozen times.”
“The knife was still lodged in her chest when first responders arrived,” Salazar said.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
The older woman was rushed to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Salazar provided more details about Rachel Zamarripa’s motive for the brutal killing, which he said was due to the stress she felt as her mother’s caregiver and the family’s sole provider. “By all indications, she snapped,” Salazar said of Rachel Zamarripa. According to a press release from the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office, Rachel Zamarripa had become frustrated over her mother’s inability to leave the house.
During the press conference following Linda Zamarripa’s murder, Salazar used the opportunity to highlight the prevalence of family-related violence, saying that there are public resources available for those who need help before it becomes too late.
“These folks that are at these hotlines will tell you what resources are available,” he said. “They can house you, they can house your children, they can even take in your pets, your children can continue to go to school, they can help you with job placement, it’s a total wraparound service.”
On Wednesday, Rachel Zamarripa was sentenced to 30 years in prison, according to court records.
