Prosecutors: Man fatally stabbed mom at Airbnb
A San Antonio man stabbed his mother repeatedly at a shortterm rental home in a Northeast Side neighborhood in 2022, prosecutors said Tuesday at the start of his murder trial.
Fabian Andres Aranda Rodriguez had rented a room at the Airbnb and invited his mother, Maritza Rodriguez, 68, to join him there, prosecutor Rosa Garcia told the jury Tuesday in her opening statement.
“They had dinner together,” but other guests began hearing yelling and screaming overnight at the five-bedroom home in the 5800 block of Clipper Port, she said.
“Fabian Aranda Rodriguez brutally murdered his mother and stabbed her 37 times in the face and neck,” Garcia told the jury.
Aranda Rodriguez was 31 when he was arrested and charged with murder in the May 30, 2022, killing. He pleaded not guilty through an interpreter provided for him by the court. His appointed attorneys, Rafael Leal and Brian C. Kimbrough, did not give an opening statement.
A guest at the home that night, Ashley Avila, told the jury she had used the Airbnb app to rent a room there for an extended stay because “it had great reviews.” She said the house was quiet when she arrived and settled in.
“I fell asleep around midnight and woke up to the sound of a lady yelling,” Avila testified. “The way she was yelling, it sounded like she was upset, crying, and sounded like it was coming from inside the house, the kitchen downstairs.”
Avila said she went back to sleep and was awakened a second time by yelling that sounded louder than the first occasion. She said she sent a text on the Airbnb app to the homeowner, who lived in Houston.
“I said, ‘Your other guests are making a lot of noise,’ and he said he’d figure out who it was,” Avila said. “I was scared, of the (potential) confrontation and people fighting.”
She said she fell asleep again and a short time later was awakened by the sound of a zipper on a suitcase, around 5:30 a.m.
“I heard someone bringing down a suitcase and thought they were going to the airport,” Avila told the jury. “Then I heard someone come upstairs, and them trying to open the door to my room.”
Avila said she asked if she could help the person, and a man’s voice said, “Oh, sorry,” and sounded like he walked away, but then the voice asked her if she had a charger he could borrow. She felt uncomfortable and sent a text asking a friend to call the police. Avila said she was afraid the person on the other side of the door would hear her call police, and she didn’t want to chance anything.
When police arrived shortly after, she already had packed and texted the homeowner that she was leaving.
As she left, she saw Aranda Rodriguez sitting on a couch, “looking scared,” Avila said.
“I said, ‘What are you thinking, trying to get in my room? ’ ”
Avila said. The officers seemed confused and asked her if they knew each other, she added. Police escorted Avila to her car around 6:30 a.m. and she left, she said.
A few hours later, she received a call from a San Antonio Police Department detective who “asked me all of these questions,” Avila testified.
When the owner of the Airbnb arrived, he told Aranda Rodriguez to leave the house, then went upstairs to find Maritza Rodriguez dead in a pool of blood on the bed of the room her son had rented the night before, an arrest warrant affidavit said.
Police later found a bloody kitchen knife in an outside trash can, along with bloody clothing that had been wrapped in a brown bath towel, the affidavit stated.
The case is being heard in the 175th District Court with Judge Catherine Torres-stahl presiding. Garcia is prosecuting the case with Bexar County Assistant District Attorney Kristen Mulliner.
If convicted, Aranda Rodriguez, now 33, faces up to life in prison.