Atascosa Co. sheriff: Suspect was obsessed with victim of slaying
A man arrested in connection with a double homicide was “obsessed” with one of the women killed, according to the Atascosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Rosendo Jesus Montoya, 27, faces two capital murder charges. His bail is set at $1 million.
The sheriff’s office responded to a house fire in the 100 block of Peach Street in Leming early on June 29.
When the fire department went to extinguish the fire, they pulled out a woman’s body. She had been shot in the head.
Officials said the woman, Laura West, 43, was a resident and homeowner. A second woman, Mary Heinz, 33, was missing from the scene.
“Mrs. Heinz’s vehicle was at the residence. All her personal belongings were still there,” Sheriff David Soward said in a news conference this week. “But, she was nowhere to be found.”
For the next several days, law enforcement led a “pretty intense investigation” to find Heinz and the murder suspect.
“My investigative team has spent several hours working day and night gathering information, evidence and video surveillance from security cameras,” Soward said.
On July 3, a suspect was developed. Montoya knew Heinz and may have been in a relationship with her, the sheriff said.
The next day, the sheriff ’s department put Montoya under surveillance at his job at a fastfood restaurant.
That night, they saw him leave work and pull his vehicle around the property to throw two black trash bags in a dumpster.
He was stopped and interviewed by the sheriff’s deputies.
During that time, an investigator recovered the trash bags and found partial human remains inside.
The sheriff said Montoya confessed to killing the two women and led investigators to Heinz’s body a few miles north of Poteet.
Officials say she also had been shot, but the timeline still is under investigation.
A motive for the slayings has not been found, but authorities believe Montoya was “obsessed” with Heinz.
“We think he went to get Mary Heinz. The other lady was collateral damage,” Soward said. “We believe he broke into the house and started the fire to burn the crime scene down.”