Beauty queen, actor found dead at home

June 07--Television actress and former beauty queen Margaret Ann Garza, 31, was found dead May 31 at her home in Round Rock.

Police were called at 6:31 a.m. Tuesday to the 1800 block of Mathers Mill Trail about a woman who was not breathing, Round Rock police spokeswoman Angelique Myers said.

Firefighters and medics were at the scene when police arrived. Her death is under investigation and an autopsy is pending, Myers said. She declined to provide further details.

Garza was crowned Miss Texas Belleza Latina in 2007 and Miss Belleza Latina International in 2008, according to the group's website. It says Belleza Latina was founded to create Hispanic role models on a local and national level.

She recently appeared in the AMC television series "The Son" as well as in the movie "Mercury Plains" with Scott Eastwood, according to an online obituary. She also is in the movie "Pizza Joint" that will premiere this month, the obituary said, and has appeared in ads in TV and print.

"Margaret dared to dream big," the obituary reads. "She did things most people only aspire to."

One of her friends, Michelle Cammack of Houston, said Thursday that she met Garza a few months ago when Cammack's stepson, who was dating Garza at the time, brought her to the Houston Rodeo.

"She was so beautiful, and she had this infectious thing about her that made you just want to be around her," Cammack said. Garza told her she grew up on her father's ranch barrel racing and going to beauty pageants, Cammack said.

"She was very Christian and talked about God a lot," she said.

Garza was so thoughtful that before meeting Cammack's daughter, Garza bought her a nail salon gift card, Cammack said. The actress recently had talked about moving to Houston and starting her own insurance business, Cammack said.

"I cried so hard when I found out she died," she said.

Garza worked as an insurance agent for Texas Life Service, said another of her friends, Matilda Perez of Corpus Christi.

"She was a very ambitious young lady," Perez said. "At one point she was handling the South Texas region for Texas Life Service. She was always looking for the next best thing to succeed in life."

Vincent Arena, chief marketing officer at Texas Service Life, said Garza moved to the sales and marketing side of the company after working as a customer service supervisor for about 18 months. He said her contagious personality and a "go-getter" attitude made her a great co-worker.

"She was very full of life, bubbly and always had a smile for everyone," he said.

Despite her modeling and acting career, Arena said, Garza remained humble and lived in the moment. He recalled taking her to the lake -- a first for her -- for her birthday a few years ago.

"It was in the springtime and the water was pretty cold," he said. "She didn't care at all; she jumped right in. She never was afraid to roll up her sleeves and have fun."

Services for Garza were held Saturday at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Laredo.

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