A La Porte man is under arrest. Police say he killed a baby boy in 2012. The case sat cold for 14 years. A new state program helped crack it open.

Eric Johnson is 39 years old. La Porte police arrested him this week. The Texas Attorney General's Cold Case Unit says he is tied to the death. The victim was a 16-month-old boy. Johnson was the boyfriend of the boy's mom at the time.

This arrest matters far past La Porte. It is the first big win for a brand new program. The program is called "Texas Solves." It is built to crack cold cases across Texas. If it worked here, it could help solve old cases in other towns too. That includes towns here in South Texas.

Here is what police say happened. On July 19, 2012, the boy's mom found him. He was not moving. He was not waking up. Johnson had watched the child the night before, police said. The mom rushed the boy to a hospital. Doctors could not save him.

Doctors later did an autopsy. They found bad injuries all over the boy's body. The injuries matched what you would see in a bad car crash. Doctors ruled the death a homicide. That means someone caused it.

La Porte police named Johnson as their main suspect early on. This was back in 2012. But police did not have enough proof to file charges. So the case went cold. It stayed unsolved for 14 years.

That changed in May 2026. La Porte police sent the old case to a new workshop. It was the first "Texas Solves" event ever held. It took place in Austin. Local police worked side by side with state cold case staff. Crime experts joined too. The workshop ran for two days.

Together, the teams looked at old evidence with fresh eyes. They found new leads. Those leads gave police enough proof to arrest Johnson.

Attorney General Ken Paxton talked about the arrest. He said his Cold Case Unit "secured the evidence needed to arrest Eric Johnson" in the boy's death. "My office worked closely with the La Porte PD to bring justice to the victim of such a heartbreaking and heinous violent crime," Paxton said. "We will continue to do everything we can to solve cold cases across the state."

Texas Solves is not done. The Attorney General's office has another workshop set for Lubbock in October. More could follow in other parts of Texas. That gives hope to families still waiting on answers. Some of those old cases could be right here in South Texas.

Cold cases are hard to solve. Time passes. Witnesses move away. Memories fade. Old evidence can get harder to test. That is why new tools and fresh eyes matter so much. Texas Solves is built to give small police departments extra help. Not every town has a full cold case team. This program brings that help to them.

For families of victims, a cold case can feel like an open wound. Years go by with no answers. Then one workshop, one fresh look at old evidence, can change everything. That is what happened here in La Porte.

Johnson is now in jail. His case will move through court next. Murder is one of the most serious charges in Texas. It can mean 5 to 99 years in prison. It can even mean life in prison.

Police have not shared every detail about the new evidence. They have not said what broke the case open after all these years. El Tejano will follow this story as it moves through the courts.