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The 26-year-old mother was in a van with Juan David Ortiz, a 10-year veteran of US Customs and Border Protection, when he pointed a gun at her and that she struggled with until she can escape and find a state soldier, officials said.
"It's a miracle that she's alive," said her brother Cesar Alberto Villarreal.
The authorities were able to find Ortiz with the help of Peña and finally stopped him in the parking lot of a hotel. But Peña's family does not want anyone to ignore the trauma that she has endured.
"Yes, for others, she's a heroine, but that does not take away from the fact that she's also been a victim of this tragedy." She's a survivor but she's going through a trauma serious, "said Peña's aunt Marcela Rodriguez.
Peña has a 5 year old daughter and has lived in Laredo all her life. She is known for her smile and extroverted personality, says her family, but now she does not want to be alone and sometimes cries in her sleep.
"She's going to need advice and help from professionals, she's still in shock," Villarreal said.
A suspect thought nobody would care, his family said
Rodriguez said that they had heard of the case but did not know anything about what had happened to Peña when the sheriff's deputies brought her home on Saturday.
"They brought her home … we did not know anything – she was the one who escaped," Rodriguez said.
Peña's family thinks that Ortiz has attacked a vulnerable community. He confessed to killing four women between September 3 and Saturday morning, which he all picked up at a prostitution center in Laredo.
He has been charged with four counts of murder and one of them is charged with unlawful coercion and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, officials said.
"Whatever their job or what they did, they are human beings," Rodriguez said. "He thought they did not have a house to live in, parents to go to or nobody would look for them, nobody would care."
On Tuesday, Deputy Chief Federico Garza of the Webb County Sheriff's Office told reporters that it was not certain that the authorities had identified all the victims of Ortiz.
Three of the victims were identified as Melissa Ramirez, 29, Claudine Luera, 42, and Humberto Ortiz, 28. According to the police, Humberto Ortiz was a transgender woman. Ortiz also called Janelle, said a spokesman for Webb County Attorney. CNN tries to confirm the victim's favorite name and pronoun.
The authorities do not give the name of the fourth victim until his relatives have been informed.
The family plans to go ahead by finding medical care for Peña. They also intend to hire a lawyer. The family refused to specify the type of legal action it intends to take.
Nicole Chavez from CNN contributed to this report.
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