Carmen Cantu - 1972 Harlingen High School Yearbook Photo

Carmen Cantu was born on May 23, 1955 in Cameron, Texas to parents Candelaria Munoz and Hector Cantu. At age 16, she married Esquiel "Big Zeke" Fonseca Jr. (age 17) on February 6th 1972 in Cameron Texas and they lived in the Sagemont subdivision in Houston together. Esquiel worked for Crown Cork and Seal in Sugarland for 25 years and they have four grown children. Carmen is notoriously best known for the murder of her husband apparently to receive the $220,000 life insurance they had for her husband as shown on Netflix's "I Am A Killer" in the season 2 episode titled "Honorable Intentions". The case began December 22, 1996 when a group of construction workers found a white Lincoln on the side of the road on Texas 8 beltway with a man slumped over the steering wheel inside the car. Cops were called, and the man was pronounced dead on the scene. It was discovered that the victim had been shot at least 7 times in the head, torso, and neck, his wallet was missing, and 9mm bullet casings were also found on the scene. Carmen showed up on the scene saying that when her husband was "missing" she decided to retrace his steps and followed the route he would have taken home in hopes to find him, and thats when she came across the police and crime scene. She willing when with law enforcement to give a statement, acting as an innocent and worried wife. Not long after, the police arrested the murderer, Mark Arthur, who was driving a stolen car with the murder weapon (gun) inside the vehicle. It was discovered by police that Carmen and Mark knew each other as Carmen's son, Esqeuil "Little Zeke" Fonesca Jr, was in a street gang called "Maniac Latin Disciple Nation" with Mark Arthur. According to court documents, it was also found that a year prior to the murder Carmen (40 years old at the time) had an affair with Mark who was 17 years old at the time, became pregnant with Arthur's child, and then had a miscarriage. This is when it was believed that Carmen came up with the plan to murder her husband in order to obtain his $200k life insurance money. It was speculated that Big Zeke abused Carmen, and young Mark, having dealt with domestic abuse in his own childhood hated abusers, and apparently beat up Big Zeke at some point. It is theorized that Mark was afraid Big Zeke would retaliate and ultimately lead to Mark assisting in the murder of Big Zeke. During the investigation, Carmen gave police lost of conflicting information and storied that lead them to believe she was involved in hiring Mark to murder her husband. On January 17, 1997, whether on purpose or by accident, admitted to discussing the murder of her husband with Mark, advising Mark on Big Zeke's location, and giving him a pager in order to collect his payment of money and a car once the job was done. It is noted that she insists that she never told Mark to outright kill her husband. We may never know what really happened leading up to the murder, but more can be read about her case here: Carmen Cantu Fonseca v. The State of Texas--Appeal from 180th District Court of Harris County. Carmen is currently incarcerated in the Texas State Prison after being charged with aggregated assault on August 20, 1995, capital murder on December 21, 1996 and finally being sentenced to life in prison on April 3, 1998. According to inmate records, Carmen will be eligible for parole on Jan 16, 2037.