SOUTHLAKE, Texas — Selena Gomez is partnering with Univision to create a true crime documentary about a cartel-related murder in Southlake in 2013.
Univision announced the partnership this week.
The Spanish-language documentary, titled Mi Vecino, El Cartel (The Cartel Among Us), is set to launch on Univision's streaming platform in 2022.
Gomez is producing the series through her July Moon Productions studio, along with the production company Blackfin.
Gomez, a Grand Prairie native, said she was intrigued by the story both as a fan of true crime content and as someone who grew up near to where the murder happened.
"Not only did it take place close to my hometown in Texas, but it was also a story unlike anything I’ve ever heard,” Gomez said in a news release. “I am excited to partner with Univision and really pull back the layers of his double life.”
Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa, a lawyer with ties to the Gulf cartel in Mexico, was gunned down at Southlake Town Square in July 2013.
Two men, Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Cepeda and Jose Luis Cepeda-Cortes, were convicted in 2016 of stalking Guerrero Chapa. But they were not the ones who attacked Chapa; according to officials, the shooters remain at large.
FBI officials said a Beltran-Lleyva cartel leader named Jose Rodolfo Villarreal-Hernandez held a grudge against Guerrero Chapa, and used a group to stalk the man as early as March 2011. The FBI has said that Villarreal-Hernandez stalked Guerrero Chapa and planned the fatal shooting of the man at the Southlake Town Square shopping center.
The United States District Court, Northern District of Texas issued a federal arrest warrant for Villarreal-Hernandez in 2018. He is charged with interstate stalking and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.
For the documentary, Univision and Gomez got "unique access" to a lead prosecutor on the case, along with archived resources and interviews. The documentary "unveils a family drama involving murdered fathers, blood feuds, and a quest for vengeance," according to Univision.
