Police: Homeless teenager confesses to man’s slaying

A homeless man was arrested Saturday on a charge of capital murder after police said he confessed to fatally stabbing and robbing a man in an unprovoked attack in northwest San Antonio last month.

Sebastian Segovia, 19, of San Antonio, is accused of killing Robert Charles Hurley, 37, according to an affidavit supporting his arrest. Segovia remains in the Bexar County Jail with bail set at $750,000.

Segovia came to police’s attention Friday when the manager of the Dollar Tree store at 3645 Fredericksburg Road accused him of causing a disturbance in the store, the arrest affidavit states. The manager was afraid Segovia would return and asked officers to stand by while the store was closed for the night.

As officers waited outside while the manager locked up, Segovia allegedly returned and threw a rock at them, the arrest affidavit states. When police tried to approach him, they said that Segovia threw another rock the size of a baseball at them. The rock struck one officer’s patrol vehicle. Police then chased and caught him.

Segovia was being booked for criminal mischief and evading arrest or detention when he told an officer he wanted to speak to homicide detectives about killing someone on Fredericksburg Road on Feb. 23, according to the arrest affidavit, which states that Segovia waived his rights.

Segovia told a police officer he had stabbed a man in the neck during a robbery and that a lock-blade knife tucked in his waistband was the murder weapon.

During further questioning at the homicide unit, Segovia told police he was walking through the Sorento Apartments — “looking for somebody to rob” — in the 2800 block of Fredericksburg Road near Interstate 10 between 5 and 6 a.m. on Feb. 23 when he saw Hurley sitting alone near the apartments’ leasing office, the affidavit states.

Segovia is accused of approaching Hurley from behind and stabbing him in the neck three times — twice in the side and once in the back. Segovia then pushed Hurley into some bushes and grabbed a wallet from Hurley’s pants pocket, arrest records show.

Segovia said he stabbed Hurley from behind without warning so that Hurley would not be able to fight back if he was armed, the affidavit states.

Segovia told police he thought Hurley may have had special needs because of the way Hurley spoke when he said “I’m sorry” while being stabbed.

Police said that Hurley was autistic.

After the slaying, Segovia hid in nearby creeks until he felt it was safe to come out.

Segovia described in detail the items in Hurley’s wallet, including his identification card, Social Security card, some gift cards, a VIA Metropolitan Transit bus card and a COVID-19 vaccine card, police said in the affidavit. Segovia said he burned those items in a ditch on Babcock Road the same day.

Segovia also provided Hurley’s name and date of birth, as he remembered it from the slain man’s identification card, police said.

Police collected Segovia’s knife, as well as his pants and sneakers, which he said he was wearing during the slaying.

Segovia provided information about Hurley and the scene of the crime that was consistent with the evidence collected, including information that had not been released to the public, the arrest affidavit said.