Nearly three weeks after a Denton mother of three vanished, volunteers found her wallet tossed along Highway 380 — the first real clue in a case where the system designed to watch everyone still couldn't protect her.
Marjulin Daiuru Briceño Arrieta, 42, was last seen September 28 after meeting her estranged husband, Richard Pastor Perez, at his Denton apartment. Perez was supposedly helping her sell a vehicle. Police found her car abandoned near his apartment. The license plates on their vehicles had been switched. A Flock camera later tracked Perez's SUV through New Mexico. Police have obtained a murder warrant. They believe Briceño Arrieta is dead. They have found neither her body nor Perez.
On Saturday, private investigator Alfonso Solis and volunteers located Briceño Arrieta's wallet along Highway 380, along with something else Solis would not disclose publicly. "Nothing's been found in three weeks. It'll be three weeks tomorrow, and this is the first clue that we have. So this is the breakthrough," Solis told FOX 4. The findings were turned over to law enforcement. Denton police said they had no updates.
The Flock camera network that helped investigators track Perez's SUV through New Mexico is the same surveillance infrastructure that, elsewhere in the country, is being quietly abused. In Savannah, Georgia, former police officer Amber Harpe was fired in August after an internal investigation found she shared her Flock login credentials with her husband, Tyler Harpe — an ICE agent. While operating with unauthorized access, Tyler Harpe ran 983 searches on 97 license plates, overwhelmingly registered to Hispanic drivers, according to Savannah's ABC affiliate WJCL. The Verge reported that the Harpes defended themselves by claiming the searches were strictly for "law-enforcement purposes." Interim Major Max Nowinsky originally recommended just an eight-hour suspension for the officer who handed over the keys. Only after other supervisors intervened was Harpe removed from the force.
So here is the picture: a surveillance dragnet expansive enough that a rogue ICE agent can run nearly a thousand unauthorized queries targeting Hispanic drivers, yet a mother meeting her estranged husband at his apartment gets no warning, no intervention, no protection. The cameras caught Perez's SUV after the fact — useful for the warrant, useless for the woman.
Denton County Crime Stoppers is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to Perez's arrest. Tips can be left anonymously at 1-800-388-TIPS or dentoncountycrimestoppers.com. The family is also fighting for legal custody of Briceño Arrieta's youngest child.
The wallet on the highway is a break. The husband on the run is a pattern. The question neither the cameras nor the cops answered is the one that matters: where is the system that was supposed to keep her alive?
