Sheriff says the victims were killed at home before investigators traced a vehicle to Corpus Christi.
MICO, Texas — A Medina County woman and a man accused of killing her mother and stepfather are jailed on capital murder charges after deputies found the couple’s bodies in a steep ravine near Medina Lake, authorities said this week.
The case drew fast attention across South Texas because it moved from a welfare check to a double homicide investigation in a matter of hours and because one of the suspects is the daughter of one of the victims. Investigators say the deaths of Cherry Rehbein, 54, and Stephen Rehbein, 58, began at the couple’s home in Mico and ended with their bodies hidden in black garbage bags near FM 1283. The investigation remains in an early stage, with autopsy findings still pending, a motive not publicly settled and court records still expected to fill in each suspect’s alleged role.
Sheriff Randy Brown said investigators believe the killings happened Monday evening, April 6, at the Rehbeins’ home in the 3300 block of County Road 265. Brown said Cherry Rehbein was killed first inside the house. Stephen Rehbein, who had been at work, was then killed after he came home later that day. Public reports have not described a fuller sequence inside the home, and the medical examiner had not publicly released final causes of death by Tuesday. Brown told local reporters that investigators recovered more than one weapon and that early evidence pointed to strangulation and a knife. Authorities have not publicly said which suspect is accused of using which weapon, whether the killings were planned in advance or whether either victim had called police or sought help before the attack.
The investigation began two days later, on Wednesday, April 8, after a co-worker reported that Stephen Rehbein had not shown up for work. Brown said the initial call came in at about 12:15 p.m., and deputies reached the home around 1 p.m. No one answered the door, but a deputy saw bloody items in a trash can at the curb. That pushed the visit beyond a routine welfare check. Investigators obtained a search warrant, gathered information on the couple’s vehicles and tracked one of them to the Corpus Christi area. The Corpus Christi Police Department’s gang unit stopped the vehicle later that day. Inside were Cassandra Lange, 29, and Joby Williams, along with a 6-year-old girl and a 1-month-old infant. Authorities said Lange is the mother of both children and Williams is the father of the infant. The girl was released to her father, and the baby was placed in Child Protective Services custody.
Brown said a Medina County chief deputy and a Texas Ranger traveled to Corpus Christi to question the suspects. During that interview, Brown said, Lange admitted that she and Williams killed her mother and stepfather and dumped the bodies in a ravine. Brown said Williams first gave investigators an account that did not match the evidence they were gathering. Officials also said Williams had a fresh hand wound that required stitches at a San Antonio medical facility, though they have not publicly explained when or how that injury happened. Investigators then shifted their search back toward Medina Lake, where ravines and dry creek beds cut through cedar and brush. Early Thursday, April 9, a deputy spotted what appeared to be trash off FM 1283. Brown said searchers pushed through brush and climbed about 73 feet down into a ravine that could not be seen from the road, where they found two large bags containing the victims’ bodies.
The setting matters to the case because Mico sits in a rural stretch of Medina County northwest of San Antonio, near rough Hill Country land around Medina Lake. That landscape can turn a short distance off the road into a hard place to search, especially at night. Fire crews had to help recover the remains and get them to the medical examiner’s office. Brown also said investigators found signs that property was taken from the home, including guns, money, tools and the couple’s vehicle. Deputies have been checking pawn shops and tracing missing firearms while trying to understand whether robbery, family conflict or something else drove the killings. No public report reviewed by Tuesday described a settled motive. That leaves the case with major unanswered questions even after the arrests, including what evidence besides the reported confession will form the core of the prosecution and whether the children were exposed to any part of the violence.
Under Texas law, a killing can be charged as capital murder when more than one person is alleged to have been killed in the same criminal episode. That is the charge both defendants now face. Local reports said the pair were first booked on lower bond amounts, then later held on $1 million surety bonds each as the case became clearer. Earlier coverage said Lange had already been returned to Medina County, while Williams was still in Nueces County awaiting transfer. Public reporting through Tuesday had not described an indictment, trial date or defense response from attorneys for either defendant. The next formal steps are expected to include more court filings, autopsy results and a fuller account from prosecutors about what they believe happened inside the home and who they say did what. Those details often shape whether a capital case moves forward on one theory or several.
The human outline of the case is stark even before many of the legal details are known. A man missed work. A co-worker called for help. Deputies arrived at a quiet home on a county road and found enough blood at the curb to treat the property as a crime scene. By late afternoon, officers in another city had stopped a vehicle tied to the victims. Before sunrise the next day, search teams were moving through cedar and rock toward a spot one deputy had noticed as what appeared to be trash. The sheriff’s office later said quick work by agencies in more than one city helped move the case fast. That speed closed the first chapter of the investigation, but it did not answer the hardest questions for the family: why the couple were killed, what the children may have seen and what evidence beyond the confession will be presented when the case reaches court.
By Tuesday, the latest public updates showed both suspects still facing capital murder charges and $1 million surety bonds, while investigators awaited autopsy findings and the next round of court filings in Medina County.
Author note: Last updated April 14, 2026.