On January 20, 2022, a farmer in McAllen, Texas, found the body of 42-year-old Gabriel Quintanilla in an open field. Police came to the scene and saw that Quintanilla had been badly beaten to death. The case led police to arrest Christian Trevino, then 17, his brother Alejandro Trevino, then 18, and their friend Juan Eduardo Melendez, also 18.
As per KRGV, police reports say the brothers found out that Quintanilla had sexually abused their 9-year-old sister. When they went to confront him at their home, a fight started. After Quintanilla left the house, Christian ran after him and found him outside an apartment building in Pharr. That is where a second fight happened. Alejandro and Melendez came later and joined in. The three young men beat Quintanilla several times with brass knuckles.
Reports say the brothers caught Quintanilla abusing their youngest sister and got very angry. The teenagers then put Quintanilla in the back of a truck and drove him to a field off McColl and Whalen Road. They left him there. Police say he was still alive when they dropped him off. He died from bad head injuries caused by the beatings.
What made the case different
Quintanilla was not innocent. He had a warrant for his arrest from 2019 for sexually assaulting a child in a different case. Police had tried to find him many times at his last address and at his mother’s house, but he kept hiding from them for years. His name was put into a national database as a wanted sex offender. Like how the Menendez brothers said they were abused in their famous case, the Trevino brothers had people asking if what they did was right or wrong.
On January 20, 2022, the Trevino brothers murdered their stepfather after making him dig his own grave after sexually assaulting their sister
— Trillionaire – Daily Newspic.twitter.com/pPnbob4zOh
(@trillionairelaw) October 9, 2025
At a news meeting, Pharr Police Chief Andy Harvey talked about why Christian and Melendez got charged with capital murder. He said it was because Quintanilla was kidnapped when they put him in the truck. Harvey also said the young men stole things from Quintanilla at the scene. He said the whole thing was tragic for everyone. There was the young girl who got hurt, the mother who lost her husband, and three young men now facing serious charges.
The case got attention across the country. A Change.org petition got over 700,000 signatures from people asking for the three young men to be set free. Like other cases where teenagers hurt someone to protect their family, the Trevino brothers made people argue about taking the law into your own hands.
In October 2024, Christian Trevino said he was guilty to capital murder and assault charges. He got sentenced to 10 years in prison. Hidalgo County District Attorney Terry Palacios said Christian got this sentence because he took part in all three attacks and was wearing brass knuckles. Alejandro got his case dropped because he did not go back to attack Quintanilla after the first fight. Melendez got 10 years of probation after his charge was lowered to manslaughter.
