Saying goodbye to Sabrina

HOUSTON—Family and friends gathered Friday morning to say their final goodbyes to Sabrina Pina.

Pina, a Klein High School and UT grad, was found shot to death over the weekend after a shopping trip in northwest Harris county.

Her funeral was held Friday at Christ the Good Shepherd Catholic Church.

Hundreds came to pay their respects to the 27-year-old TXU employee.

Police believe Theodore Schmidt, a high-school classmate of Pina’s, abducted her from a Kohl’s parking lot, bound her with duct tape, shot her in the head and dumped her body in a ditch.


Theodore Schmidt is charged with capital murder in the death of Sabrina Pina.
Investigators said a fingerprint lifted from the tape around Pina’s head led them to Schmidt.

Schmidt is facing capital murder charges, but he denies having anything to do with the crime.

He’s being held without bond in the Harris County Jail.

Friends said Pina touched their lives in amazing ways.

"Sabrina's actually the reason my wife and I are married," friend Jay Rogers said. "She got us together. We have a lot of great memories with her … it's really sad that we won't have any new memories with her."

Those who attended the service at Christ the Good Shepard Church said Pina was a wonderful wife and daughter.

"She was a beautiful spirit, a wonderful, enthusiastic wife," said Nannette Cooms, Pina's youth minister. "She wanted to be a mother. Her parents say they have nothing to regret in the raising of her. She loved them."

Theodore Schmidt, one of Pina's classmates at Klein High School, was arrested a few days after the killing and charged with capital murder. Harris County sheriff's deputies said the Schmidt's fingerprint was found on a piece of duct tape used to bound Pina.

Schmidt has been charged with capital murder and is being held in the Harris County Jail without bond. He is expected back in court in mid-April.