Sheriff Randy Brown said the victims were killed at home before their bodies were found in a ravine.
MICO, Texas — A Medina County woman and the father of her infant child are accused of killing her mother and stepfather, stealing property from their home and dumping their bodies near Medina Lake, authorities said.
The charges against Cassandra Lange, 29, and Joby Williams, 30, place a family relationship at the center of a double homicide investigation. The victims were identified as Cherry Rehbein, 54, and Stephen Rehbein, 58. The sheriff’s office said Lange was Cherry Rehbein’s biological daughter and Stephen Rehbein’s stepdaughter. Both suspects face capital murder charges, and each was held on a $1 million surety bond after the case unfolded across Medina County and the Corpus Christi area.
Sheriff Randy Brown said investigators believe the violence began Monday evening inside the Rehbeins’ home in the 3300 block of County Road 265 in Mico, a small community west of San Antonio. Brown said Cherry Rehbein was killed first. Stephen Rehbein was killed when he came home from work later that day, the sheriff said. Officials have not released the final cause of death. Brown said the medical examiner would make that determination, but he said investigators recovered multiple weapons and that strangulation and a knife were believed to be involved.
The case did not become public through a 911 call from the home or a missing-person report from relatives. It began when Stephen Rehbein failed to appear for work Wednesday, April 8. A co-worker asked the sheriff’s office to check on him. Deputies arrived around 1 p.m. and found no one at the residence. Brown said a deputy saw bloody items in a trash can at the curb. Criminal investigators were called, more evidence was found, and deputies obtained a search warrant. From that point, the inquiry changed from a welfare check into a suspected crime scene.
The next question for investigators was where the Rehbeins and their vehicles were. Authorities identified the couple’s vehicles and used available technology to track one of them to the Corpus Christi area. Officers there stopped the vehicle Wednesday afternoon. Lange and Williams were inside with two children. One was Lange’s 6-year-old daughter. The other was a 1-month-old infant. Officials said Williams is the baby’s biological father, but not the 6-year-old’s father. The older child was placed with her father, while the infant was put in the care of Child Protective Services.
The presence of the children made the stop more complex, but authorities said it also helped quickly separate child welfare decisions from the homicide investigation. The sheriff’s office has not said whether either child saw any part of the crime or knew what had happened to the Rehbeins. Investigators have also not said when the children entered the vehicle or where they had been between Monday evening and the Wednesday afternoon stop. Those details remain unanswered. What officials have said is that the children were removed from the suspects’ care after Lange and Williams were detained.
Brown said Williams had a fresh hand injury when officers found him. The wound had required stitches at a medical facility in San Antonio, the sheriff said. A Medina County chief deputy and a Texas Ranger went to Corpus Christi to question both suspects. Brown said Lange confessed that she and Williams killed Cherry and Stephen Rehbein and disposed of their bodies in a ravine. Williams gave an account that was inconsistent at first, Brown said. By about 7 p.m. Wednesday, both suspects were in custody, roughly six hours after the welfare check started.
Deputies then moved into the terrain around Medina Lake. Brown said investigators began searching ravines and dry creek beds after Lange described where the bodies had been dumped. The nighttime search was hard because the area is steep and covered with cedar brush. Early Thursday morning, April 9, a deputy noticed what appeared to be trash along FM 1283. Deputies descended about 73 feet into a deep ravine not visible from the road. They found two large black garbage bags. Inside were the bodies of Cherry and Stephen Rehbein, authorities said. Fire crews helped recover the remains.
Investigators also began tracking what was missing from the Rehbein home. Brown said guns, money, tools and a vehicle were among the items believed to have been taken. Deputies were checking pawn shops and trying to trace stolen firearms. The sheriff said he could not say whether robbery was the reason for the killings. No final motive has been announced. Officials also have not said whether Lange or Williams had been staying at the home, visiting the home or planning to leave the area before Stephen Rehbein’s co-worker requested the welfare check.
The legal label on the case is capital murder of multiple persons, a charge that reflects allegations involving more than one victim. The case remained at an early stage after the arrests, with the medical examiner still expected to issue autopsy findings and investigators still following the trail of stolen property. Lange was transported to Medina County on the night of April 8. Williams was in the Nueces County Jail pending transfer to Medina County at the time of the sheriff’s update. The district attorney’s next filings will set the pace for court proceedings.
The Rehbeins’ deaths left investigators sorting through a family case with a narrow timeline and broad unanswered questions. Brown said the investigation was ongoing, and officials had not announced a motive, final autopsy results or the full path of the stolen property.
Author note: Last updated May 4, 2026.