Joshua Wilkerson

According to court documents, Moralez stated that Wilkerson gave him a ride home from school on November 16th. He claimed they began to argue and got out of the truck. He confessed to using a large wooden rod to beat Wilkerson to death. Moralez stated that he then put the body into Wilkerson's truck and drove to a desolate location where he dumped the body. Wilkerson's body was found with his hands and feet tied. He had been severely beaten, strangled, tortured, and burned. The condition of Wilkerson's body, and the fact that he was tied up, raised questions as to whether the murder was simply an argument that got out of hand, or an intentionally planned murder.

In 2015 the victim's mother, Laura Wilkerson testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about her son's murder and the problem of sanctuary cities. She stated: "You're officially notified today there is a problem when this happens," and "You're either for Americans or you're not!"

On November 16, 2010, eighteen year-old Joshua Wilkerson was murdered by his classmate Hermilo Moralez, who was an illegal immigrant to the United States from Belize. Both boys were students at an alternative school for at-risk students in Pearland, Texas (a suburb of Houston). Wilkerson was reported missing after his abandoned truck was located in a strip mall parking lot. A massive search began on the morning of November 17. Moralez, who was nineteen at the time of the murder, became a suspect when the police noticed him loitering in the area near Wilkerson's abandoned truck. At first he denied having anything to do with the crime, but he gave the police false information about his identity which raised their suspicions. Moralez eventually confessed and led officers to the body.