SAPD uses GPS tracker to accuse teen of dumping body
San Antonio police accused an 18-year-old man of killing someone and dumping his body off a West Side highway in December.
Joseph David Melgarhernandez was charged with murder after detectives used a GPS tracker to link him to several crime scenes.
According to the arrest affidavit, police responded to what they thought was a major accident on Dec. 20 in the 5800 block of the Texas 151 access road. There, they found Damion Jamal Franklin, 29, shot multiple times in the back. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police also found Franklin’s phone, which had alerted 911 with its crash detection function.
Later that day, San Antonio Police Department officers on the East Side found an abandoned vehicle registered to Franklin. The vehicle had a bullet hole in the driver-side window and blood on the driver’s seat, steering wheel and driver-side door panel.
Shell casings in the vehicle led detectives to believe that the 29-year-old was shot while in the driver’s seat.
Detectives obtained a search warrant for Franklin’s phone and saw he had contact via text with Melgar-hernandez throughout the week before he was found dead. Texts and phone calls were logged several times on Dec. 20.
Surveillance video from a local food mart showed Melgar-hernandez getting into the passenger side of Franklin’s car minutes before the shooting.
A witness, not identified in the affidavit, was on the phone with Franklin minutes later when she heard him pleading for his life with someone in the vehicle, the arrest affidavit states.
Detectives believe Melgar-hernandez shot Franklin and then dumped his body on the side of the Texas 151 access road on the West Side. Melgar-hernandez abandoned the vehicle shortly after the incident in the 700 block of Westfall Avenue, two minutes from his residence, according to police.
During the investigation, police also found that Melgar-hernandez was involved in a separate incident on Jan. 15. The affidavit states Melgar-hernandez was trying to buy crack in the 1000 block of Paso Hondo when the drug dealer pulled a knife on him. Melgar-hernandez pulled a gun on the dealer, and a witness ran away to call police, the affidavit states.
The witness of the January incident provided an address for Melgar-hernandez, and they contacted his father.
Melgar-hernandez’s father did not know where his son was, but he gave officers identifiers, including his Facebook account.
Detectives returned to Melgar-hernandez’s father on Jan. 16 to confirm his son had made it home. While they were there, Melgar-hernandez woke up and talked to them. He wore a black leather jacket and boots that matched the description found on the surveillance video at the food mart on Dec. 20 during the house visit.
Both Melgar-hernandez and his father thought detectives were investigating the aggravated assault incident that occurred days before. So when Melgar-hernandez was asked if he would provide a “non-custodial voluntary statement” at SAPD headquarters, he agreed.
While still at Melgarhernandez’s residence, detectives asked him for his phone number to see if it matched the number given to them by Textnow. As he began to recite the number, he revealed the six digits but stopped and stated he “did not remember his phone number.”
Once at SAPD headquarters, Melgar-hernandez was initially interviewed about the January incident and stated he didn’t know why his friend, who was the witness, called the police. He denied the witness’s recollection of events.
Detectives then confronted Melgar-hernandez about the murder investigation from Dec. 20. Melgar-hernandez denied knowing Franklin and stated he didn’t know what detectives were talking about, the affidavit states.
When asked what his cellphone number was, Melgar-hernandez provided a different number than the one listed. He also provided his email, which matched the one given to detectives during the early parts of the investigation.
During the interview, Melgar-hernandez denied having the number that detectives had listed. He said he only owned one phone and had it for months. He continued to deny speaking or knowing Franklin.
Detectives spoke to the witness of the January incident again after the interview. The witness confirmed Melgar-hernandez’s phone number to detectives, which matched the number they had.
The witness also said Melgar-hernandez did have a gun on him during the January incident.
Melgar-hernandez had told the witness the number was no longer in service as of Jan. 15. Detectives then asked the witness to positively identify Melgar-hernandez in the surveillance footage from the food mart on Dec. 20, which he did.
The witness did not know that Melgar-hernandezwas also part of a murder investigation when detectives asked him to identify him as the person in the surveillance footage. He “immediately identified” Melgar-hernandez as the person in the video.
Melgar-hernandez was booked into Bexar County jail late Wednesday, and his bail is set at $250,000.