New details emerge in murder of girl, 12, found strangled in creek after vanishing from her home

Horrifying new details have emerged in the murder investigation of a 12-year-old girl who was found strangled in a creek just hours after sneaking out of her home.

Police have said Jocelyn Nungaray's body was found floating in a creek nearby her Houston, Texas home on Monday - just hours after she apparently snuck out of the house.

It has since been revealed that Nungaray made her way to a local convenience store, where officers believe she was accosted by two unidentified male suspects.

She called her 13-year-old boyfriend from the convenience store at around midnight that night - and he would later report he heard her talking to two adults, Houston Mayor John Whitmire announced at a news conference Tuesday.

'There will be a report issued shortly, with very bad, horrific circumstances,' he pledged - before revealing that the young girl was raped, according to KHOU.

Her grieving mother, Alexis Nungary, is now struggling to process what had happened.

'It's like it's not real,' she told Click2Houston. 'I keep hearing everything, and everybody tell me everything, and I hear it and it's not registering.'

She remembers telling her daughter at around 10pm Sunday night not to stay up too late, as she was joining her at work the next day. Those would be the last words she ever spoke to her daughter.

By 3am Monday, Alexis said she noticed Jocelyn's cat was 'going crazy,' but assumed the cat was with her daughter, who always slept with her pet at night.

It wasn't until she woke up at 6am and started her normal routine to wake up her five-year-old son and Jocelyn that she noticed her daughter was missing. 

She then searched frantically around the house, and walked around their apartment complex looking for her daughter, then got into her car and pinged her daughter's cellphone.

It traced back to a creek where police were already investigating. 

Earlier that morning, Billie Jackson was driving home from dropping her husband off at work when she found Jocelyn's body in a shallow creek.

'I drove past, and when I looked up the creek, I thought it was a mannequin,' Jackson told ABC 13.

'I did a U-turn, and I stopped on the bridge, put my flashers on, looked down and realized it was someone. I parked right here and called 911,' she said.

Alexis says she now wants justice for her young daughter.

She said she does not believe she knows the two men Jocelyn was seen with at the convenience store, whom the Houston Police Department have identified as 'persons of interest in the case.'

But, Alexis says she suspects they either live in the apartment complex or may have walked to the store from a nearby state park.

'I want karma to hit them, I'm angry,' Alexis told Click2Houston. 'They took advantage of her.

'She's so young, she's 12.

'I want justice,' she continued. 'I want whoever has seen them to please call police. They took my baby away.'

Alexis also said that she does not know why Jocelyn snuck out of the house, though she noted that she has struggled in recent months with her mental health.

'I don't know why, what possessed her to walk around late at night in this area out of all places,' Alexis said. 

'I always told her to never leave the house, never leave unattended, always be safe. There's people around here that are crazy.

'I don't think she ever thought it would face her.' 

She and other family members have described the preteen as a loving and caring child.

'Jocy was a smart, loving, nurturing young lady,' her uncle Joamel told Click2Houston. 'She brightened up the room every time she came by and was loved by everyone around.

'She had no reason to die that way.' 

Alexis also described her as the 'greatest friend' who was 'very goofy.

'She had aspirations for life,' Alexis said. 'She loved everyone, was so kind.' 

A GoFundMe has now been set up to pay for Jocelyn's funeral.

'Her family was not prepared for such a loss, and [need] help to give her daughter the memorial she deserves, to honor her memory and to say our last goodbyes,' it says.

As of Wednesday night, it had already raised more than $16,000.