Woman held in killing of homeless man, 34
A San Antonio woman was arrested Thursday for her alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of a homeless man, which police describe as a possible retaliatory killing, court documents said.
Debra Ann Guerra, 48, was charged with murder in connection with the death of 34-year-old Aldo Rafael Uribe. She is being held on $150,000 bail. Two men who have not been identified by police are also suspected to be involved in the crime, but no information regarding arrest warrants for them has been made available.
On Jan. 15, police were called to the 14100 block of Nacogdoches Road, where they found Uribe dead in an open field. Uribe had been assaulted and shot in the head, according to an affidavit supporting Guerra’s arrest.
Guerra called police three days after the killing to report that her pickup truck, but not she, was involved. She was arrested after police found inconsistencies between her account and other evidence, including surveillance video and witness statements.
Guerra initially told police that she drove her boyfriend and her roommate’s boyfriend in her Dodge Ram to a homeless camp near the shooting — shortly before it occurred — because the men wanted to buy marijuana, according to the arrest affidavit. When they arrived, she told police, the men went to the camp while she stayed behind and spoke with a homeless man.
According to Guerra, she heard arguing and a gunshot before the men came running back, got into the Dodge and left her at the scene. She said that when she got home, her roommate’s boyfriend threatened to kill her and told her that he shot Uribe in the head.
On the day that Guerra contacted police, her boyfriend was arrested on unrelated warrants and interviewed by a homicide detective. He denied being at the murder and said that Guerra was “being controlled by other people to blame” him, the affidavit said.
Multiple witnesses, however, told police that they saw two men and a woman arguing with Uribe before the two men assaulted him and he was shot.
Investigators obtained surveillance video that showed three people get out of a Dodge, enter and exit the homeless camp, and flee together in the Dodge.
Similarly, one witness told police that he saw a woman and two men get out of the Dodge and that the woman asked him where they could find Uribe. The witness pointed toward Uribe’s tent and later heard Uribe yell “I didn’t know” before the gunshot.
An anonymous tipster told police that Guerra shot Uribe.
According to the arrest affidavit, investigators learned from witnesses that the killing may have been retaliation for an attack that occurred three days prior. Witnesses said two people went to Guerra’s residence and assaulted her and two of her friends, including an elderly woman who lost three teeth in the attack.
The witnesses said the assault on Guerra was over $30 that one friend owed.