2nd person charged in death near Spring school
A second person has been charged in the MS-13linked killing of a man who was found shot and hacked to death with a machete on Spring ISD property.
Francisco Flores-Salazar, 19, was arrested Tuesday and charged with murder in the death of Jose Alfonso Villanueva. Flores-Salazar is being held at the Harris County Jail with bond set at $100,000.
Federal authorities have also placed an immigration hold on the El Salvador native who was living in Houston.
In September, authorities arrested 17-year-old Karla Morales in the slaying, saying she lured Villanueva, 24, to his death July 29 with the promise of belated birthday marijuana.
Villanueva, whose birthday was four days earlier, left his Antoine Street apartment and got in a car with Morales and two men she told investigators were MS-13 members. They drove to a nearby field about 500 feet from Lewis Elementary School where other men were waiting for him.
The men waiting were in a truck and Flores-Salazar, who Morales said she knew as “Psycho,” was in the front passenger seat, a prosecutor said at his probable cause hearing Thursday.
The men shot Villanueva several times and Flores-Salazar hacked him with a machete, Morales told investigators. The transnational gang is known for using the signature blade when carrying out killings.
Villanueva’s partially clothed body was found Aug. 7 in “an advanced stage of decomposition” and several shell casings were found under him, according to authorities.
Authorities have not speculated on why Villanueva was killed, but a family member told investigators that a rap battle between Villanueva and his apparent rivals might have prompted the executionstyle killing.
The relative said Villanueva had friends with ties to MS-13 but didn’t know him to be involved with the gang.
“He wasn’t no bad guy. His thing was rap. He liked to rap,” the relative said.
Morales, who is also charged with murder, remains jailed on a $60,000 bond.