Sheriff calls inquiry on 3 killings deficient
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said he reassigned the almost 2-year-old probe of the shooting deaths of a mother and her two daughters to a cold case detective because his department’s original investigation was insufficient.
“Quite frankly, I don’t think a full-on effort was made,” Salazar said Thursday of the initial investigation of the deaths of San Antonio hairstylist Nichol Leila Olsen, 37, and her daughters, Alexa Denice Montez, 16, and London Sophia Bribiescas, 10, at a home in far Northwest Bexar County.
The sheriff declined to specify how the original homicide investigators’ work fell short, but said he wasn’t satisfied when he recently reviewed their final report. However, he said the second look at the case is unlikely to change a conclusion that it was a murder-suicide.
“There were some stones left unturned,” Salazar told reporters during a media briefing. “I’ll leave it at that. … I can’t go too much into detail. As I saw it — and my chief deputy agreed with me when I asked him to review it — there were some stones left unturned.”
The sheriff said several people were at fault for the incomplete case but that he didn’t think it was done out of malice. Some sheriff’s officials “probably should have got a better eyeball on it before it came to my desk,” Salazar said.
He said people “absolutely” will be held accountable but declined to specify how, noting more details on that will be available in the near future.
Olsen and her daughters were found shot to death Jan. 10, 2019, in a $1 million home in the gated Anaqua Springs Ranch subdivision near Leon Springs. A handgunwas found near Olsen's body. Within days, the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office ruled Olsen's death a suicide and her daughters' deaths homicides.
At the time, the house was owned by Olsen's boyfriend, Charles Edward Wheeler, who has since sold the property and moved to Austin.
Wheeler, now33, told investigators he had departed the residence the previous night after an argument with Olsen. He called 911 to report the shootings when he returned home the next morning.
The sheriff previously described Wheeler as a “person of interest” in the case. “Everybody associated with this case is still a person of interest,” Salazar said Thursday. “That does not mean they're suspected of any wrongdoing. I can't say that emphatically enough. But it just means I want my investigators to talk to you again.”
No charges have ever been filed in the case. Wheeler's attorneys said he had nothing to do with the deaths and have called on Salazar to publicly clear their client's name.
Salazar said there is no evidence at this point to suggest that Olsen's death was not a suicide. “I don't think that there's anything that's going to happen that's going to alter the (medical examiner's) findings at this point,” he said Thursday.
The sheriff said he can't predict how long it will take to complete the investigation. He had originally asked his investigators to submit their final report on the case by Christmas. Earlier this week, he said it will take longer.
An attorney for the youngest child's family said he learned some witnesses may not have been contacted during the sheriff 's office's original investigation, while many witnesses' statements were not recorded or taken in writing.
“London's family is grateful to Detective Rubin Arevalos for reaching out as part of his effort to correct deficiencies in the original investigation,” attorney Joe Hoelscher said in a text message to the San Antonio Express-news. “Of course, we are all disappointed to find out ... that the investigation will carry on indefinitely and that it has not been conducted to the standard that Bexar County residents and Alexa and London deserve.
“Although Salazar's failure to close this investigation in a timely manner will prolong the family's pain, what matters most is that the truth comes to light.”
Hoelscher urged any potential witnesses to cooperate with the investigation, “even if previously contacted.”
“After two years, evidence not secured by the investigators may be missing or stale,” he said. “So we ask those who may assist to please contact BCSO and make themselves known before justice delayed becomes justice denied.”