Man arrested in fatal collision with cyclist

A 34-year-old man accused of striking and killing a bicyclist with his vehicle has been arrested nearly two years later after blood inside the vehicle was tested and found to be his.

Kenneth Arthur Relitz has been charged with a collision involving death in the fatality of a 38-year-old bicyclist.

In the late hours of Sept. 22, 2022, Relitz was driving his 2016 Volkswagen Golf down the 9100 block of Culebra Road when he allegedly hit the bicyclist, states an arrest affidavit. Once he struck the man, he failed to stop and render aid, the affidavit states.

The bicyclist was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Relitz abandoned his vehicle at a nearby location, according to police. The following day, a woman called the non-emergency number to report a “white Volkswagen” at the intersection of Cornudo Ridge and Laguna Rio on the West Side.

The woman said the top of the vehicle, including the windshield, was damaged. She provided a license plate number to the police to run the vehicle in their system, police said.

San Antonio police confirmed the vehicle was reported stolen under a separate case with the Bexar County Sheriff ’s

Office. The affidavit does not state when the car was reported stolen. Once a recovered stolen vehicle report was completed, police went to the vehicle and began investigating.

The affidavit states the vehicle was found less than a halfmile from the crash scene. The front bumper had paint matching the bicycle the man was riding and an imprint of the bicycle’s tire on the front bumper.

The vehicle was dented, the windshield was shattered inward toward the front seats and the sunroof was damaged. This is consistent with the vehicle “striking a person on a bicycle,” the affidavit states.

A crime scene investigator began taking photos of the inside of the vehicle when she found blood on the hand brake, the affidavit states. She then later found blood on the steering wheel, seat belt latch and outside the driver’s side door handle.

Police confirmed that Relitz and his wife were registered owners of the vehicle. Both provided statements at the San Antonio Police Department headquarters.

Relitz said he is the only one who drives the Volkswagen because it is a stick-shift. He added that he was not driving the vehicle at the time of the crash.

Both Relitzes agreed to provide a DNA sample to compare to what was found in the vehicle by the crime scene investigators. Their DNA was sent to a crime lab to be analyzed, the affidavit states.

An SAPD detective received confirmation from the Bexar County Criminal Investigation Laboratory that the blood found on the hand brake matched Relitz’s DNA.

Relitz was booked into the Bexar County jail on Thursday. His bail was set at $75,000. He has since been released on bond.

Relitz