Guadalupe County sheriff's officials said Levi Cotton was arrested in Utah in the 2017 killing of Joe James Rangel.

Charlie Drake, and Sharleigh Drake, are not the same first name. The Salt Lake City Detention Center, and the Salt Lake County Detention Center, are not the same facility name. Arrested this week, taken into custody Tuesday afternoon, and booked Thursday, are not the same clock. The night he was killed, and the evening before he was killed, are not the same time. Meadowlake, and Meadow Lake, are not the same spelling. The woman in the affidavit is not named.

KENS 5, by Bella Popadiuk, published at 10:55 p.m. CST on November 5, 2026, and updated at the same clock, reported Levi Spencer Cotton, 32, was arrested this week in Salt Lake City, Utah, and charged with murder in the death of Joe James Rangel, who was found shot to death inside his home on July 4, 2017. It reported he is being held at the Salt Lake City Detention Center while awaiting extradition to Guadalupe County, and that authorities have not said whether he plans to waive extradition. It prints the middle name Spencer. It does not print a Tuesday clock, a workplace, or an age for Rangel. Seguin Today, by Cindy Aguirre, dated Nov. 6, 2026, at 12:02 a.m., reported Sheriff Joshua Ray announced Thursday that Levi Cotton, 32, a former Seguin-area resident, was arrested Nov. 3 in the Salt Lake City, Utah, area in connection with the 2017 murder of Joe James Rangel, 57. It reported investigators traveled to Utah and that Cotton was taken into custody at his place of employment on the afternoon of Tuesday, Nov. 3, with assistance from the Utah Department of Public Safety's State Bureau of Investigation Major Crimes Unit. It reported he is held at the Salt Lake County Detention Center awaiting extradition. It does not print the middle name Spencer. The Seguin Gazette, by Dalondo Moultrie, dated Nov. 5, 2026, with an updated line that printed a relative time and did not print a second clock, reported Investigator Sharleigh Drake's work led to an arrest in Utah and a murder charge. It reported the sheriff's office, with the Guadalupe County Attorney's Office, obtained a warrant charging Cotton with murder, that Drake flew to Utah and, with help from local authorities, arrested Cotton, 32, and that he was booked into the Salt Lake County Detention Center on Thursday and is awaiting extradition. Taken into custody on the afternoon of Tuesday, Nov. 3, on Seguin Today, and booked on Thursday, in the Gazette, are not the same clock. Arrested this week, on KENS 5, is not a Tuesday. The Salt Lake City Detention Center, on KENS 5, and the Salt Lake County Detention Center, on Seguin Today and in the Gazette, are not the same facility name. KSAT's page, published November 5, 2026, at 3:28 p.m., is a video item. It reported sheriff's officials announced Thursday that Levi Cotton, a former Seguin-area resident, was arrested Tuesday in Salt Lake City and charged with murder in the death of Joe James Rangel. It does not print an age, a middle name, a detention facility, or the investigator's name. A search for a FOX 13 Utah story naming Cotton did not turn one up.

Rangel was found inside his home in the 200 block of Shady Lane in Seguin, KENS 5 reported. It reported the original investigation uncovered nine spent 9 millimeter shell casings, and that Rangel had hosted a party the night he was killed. Seguin Today reported he was found dead inside his home in the 200 block of Shady Lane in the Meadowlake subdivision on July 4, 2017, that he had suffered multiple gunshot wounds, and that his death was ruled a homicide. It reported investigators in 2017 had learned of an unidentified man at the home the evening before his death and could not identify him then. The Gazette reported the sheriff's office was called about 6:30 a.m. July 4, 2017, for a report of a death in the 200 block of Shady Lane in the Meadow Lake subdivision, and that deputies found Rangel in his home dead from apparent gunshot wounds. It reported Drake learned an unidentified man attended a party at the home the evening before he was killed. About 6:30 a.m. is the Gazette. It is not on KENS 5 or Seguin Today. Age 57 is on Seguin Today and in the Gazette. It is not on KENS 5 or the KSAT item. Nine spent 9 millimeter shell casings are on KENS 5. They are not on Seguin Today or in the Gazette paragraphs. Meadowlake, on Seguin Today, and Meadow Lake, in the Gazette, are not the same spelling. The night he was killed, on KENS 5, and the evening before he was killed, on Seguin Today and in the Gazette, are not the same time. The 200 block of Shady Lane is the address those three pages share.

KENS 5 reported Sheriff Joshua Ray said the investigation gained new momentum in February when the department hired cold case investigator Charlie Drake. Seguin Today reported the office brought on a new cold case investigator in February, and it quoted Ray thanking Investigator Sharleigh Drake, with a period printed between Sharleigh and Drake. It reported he said she has been employed about nine months. The Gazette's lead names Investigator Sharleigh Drake, and its account says she was hired in February. Charlie Drake, on KENS 5, and Sharleigh Drake, on Seguin Today and in the Gazette, are not the same first name. The Gazette reported she worked with her lieutenant in the Criminal Investigators Division and the Texas Rangers. Seguin Today reported a lieutenant in the Criminal Investigations Division and the Texas Rangers. Investigators, and Investigations, are not the same division name. KENS 5, citing Cotton's arrest affidavit, reported a woman who attended the party with him told investigators Cotton had a firearm of the same type used in the killing. It reported the affidavit says she told Cotton, after leaving the party, that Rangel had allegedly raped her and that she had suffered a miscarriage as a result, and that a few hours later she learned Rangel had been killed. She is not named here. KENS 5 reported that in 2020 two Crime Stoppers tips identified Cotton as the person who shot Rangel, that one tipster claimed he had confessed and described details of the shooting, and that he left the state as investigators tried to contact people associated with him. The Gazette reported Drake reinterviewed a previous Crime Stoppers tipster, and that the affidavit says Cotton allegedly admitted to killing a man and threatened to kill the tipster and the tipster's family if they spoke to law enforcement. Two tips in 2020, on KENS 5, and a reinterview of a previous tipster, in the Gazette, are not the same sentence. A confession claim, on KENS 5, and an affidavit line that he allegedly admitted to killing a man and threatened a tipster's family, in the Gazette, are not the same account. The woman in the KENS 5 affidavit is not named here. KENS 5 reported the arrest was a collaborative effort of the Guadalupe County Attorney's Office, the Texas Rangers, and the Utah Department of Public Safety. Seguin Today reported those agencies and specifically the Utah Department of Public Safety State Bureau of Investigation Major Crimes Unit, and it reported Ray also acknowledged agencies in Texas, Colorado, and Utah. Colorado is on Seguin Today. It is not on KENS 5. The Gazette quoted Ray: "This is an arrest. It is not a conviction. Mr. Cotton is presumed innocent, and he will have his day in court, as the law provides." It reported deputies will travel to Utah to retrieve him once magistration and extradition proceedings are complete. Magistration is the Gazette's word. KENS 5 reported authorities have not said whether he plans to waive extradition. Seguin Today asks anyone with information to call the Guadalupe County Sheriff's Office at 830-379-1224, or Guadalupe County Crime Stoppers at 1-877-403-8477. The charge those pages describe is murder. They do not print a conviction. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.