Teen dies on prom night; boyfriend charged with assault

Eddie Herrera and Jacqueline Gomez on prom day in May.(Photo: Courtesy of Gomez family)HOUSTON — The boyfriend of a teen found lifeless in a hotel room the morning after prom was arrested nearly eight months after her death.Eddie M. Herrera, 18, of Houston was charged Thursday with aggravated assault, is in jail on $50,000 bond and is to be arraigned Friday.Herrera told police that he choked Jacqueline Gomez, 17, of Houston during rough sex after their MacArthur Senior High School prom, which was held at the hotel. But he said she was still alive when they both fell asleep."I put my hands around her neck and squeezed," he told police.When he woke up the next morning, May 17, he was unable to wake her, police said. Both had been drinking alcohol before falling asleep.Prosecutors allege that Herrera's mother bought alcohol and hydrocodone for them and booked the hotel room at the Hyatt near Houston's airport.When Herrera realized that Jackie wasn't breathing, he called his mother, who also was staying at the hotel, prosecutors said. She came to the room, helped her son put clothes on his date and then called the hotel staff asking if a doctor were on site.They did not call an ambulance; the hotel did. Houston Fire Department personnel responded and pronounced the girl dead at the scene.An autopsy was performed, but the teen's cause of death remains under investigation. Prosecutors said they still are looking at whether to file charges against Herrera's mother.Without a net, a look at death defying stuntsJan 15, 2015