Public safety:
Police: Cellphone data links men to apartment complex slaying.
Three men charged in November killing in Southeast Austin apartment.
Cellphone tower data helped investigators link three men to the November killing of Jose DeJesus Chavez at his Southeast Austin apartment, police said.
Austin police filed capital murder charges against Shawn Michael Smith, 32, Gregory James Dalton, 30, and Jeffery Mendez, 29, on Friday.
Chavez, 25, died after being shot multiple times on Nov. 20 at City View Apartments at 4900 E. Oltorf St. near Sunridge Drive.
Witnesses told police that two men had forced their way into the apartment demanding money and drugs. They assaulted two people and struggled with Chavez, an arrest warrant affidavit said.
When police arrived at about 12:45 a.m., officers found Chavez dead.
They collected evidence from the apartment: sealed bags with marijuana, about $5,000 in folded bills and four cellphones. They also were told that Chavez was known for selling illicit drugs, especially the synthetic drug Molly, the affidavit said.
For months, police analyzed cellphone records of the days leading up to Chavez’s death
until they identified the three men being charged.
Detectives then used the records to establish that the men had traveled between San Antonio and Austin and became active near Chavez’s apartment the night of the murder, the affidavit said.
Police interviewed Mendez, a DJ in San Antonio, who admitted he had been in Austin to buy some Molly from Chavez the day he died.
After Mendez bought the drugs, he returned to San Antonio, where he met with Dalton and Smith, the affidavit said.
According to Mendez, the affidavit said, Dalton was so impressed by the drug that they agreed to burglarize Chavez’s apartment or rob him later that night.
They drove to Austin the same night.
When they arrived at the apartment complex, Mendez said he waited in the car while Dalton and Smith went into the apartment.
He fled to San Antonio when several police cars started showing up and messages to the men’s phones went straight to voice mail, the affidavit said.
Once in San Antonio, Mendez said Dalton told him things went bad because Chavez was under the influence of something and lunged at him, the affidavit said.
Smith and Mendez were in custody in San Antonio on Monday.
However, Dalton remained on the run Monday afternoon and was being sought by the U.S. Marshals Service, police said.
Investigators have asked for anyone with information on Dalton’s whereabouts to call the police homicide tip line at 512-477-3588.