Two Texas women have been charged in the disturbing death of an 84-year-old man whose bound and burned body was discovered in a roadside ditch earlier this year.
Leidy Guadalupe Hernandez, 43, and Ulani Mable Nunes, 23, are accused of killing Manuel Gomez Mendez Jr. as part of an alleged plot to steal his money.
Both women face capital murder and aggravated robbery charges.
The investigation began March 28, when people passing through a brushy area along Rigsby Avenue in San Antonio noticed what appeared to be a grass fire.
When emergency crews arrived, however, they discovered something far more disturbing.
Mendez’s body was burning in a ditch.
Police said the elderly man had been bound and duct-taped and was wrapped in a jacket and shower curtain.
Investigators also found ropes, a dolly and the remains of a melted plastic storage tote near the scene.
Court records later indicated that Mendez’s body had already begun decomposing before it was set on fire.
Authorities said he had also been restrained using a bed skirt and wires.
One woman who spotted the fire while driving with her family later recalled that they initially thought they were simply reporting a small brush fire.
It was only later, when homicide detectives came to speak with them, that the family learned they had stumbled across a murder investigation.
Detectives eventually connected Hernandez and Nunes to both Mendez’s home and the location where his body was discovered through surveillance video and cellphone records, according to arrest documents.
Police said they also found two of Mendez’s identification cards and his Social Security card inside a vehicle the women had allegedly been using.
Investigators say Nunes later waived her Miranda rights and gave detectives a detailed confession describing how the alleged plot unfolded.
According to court documents, the women encountered Mendez at an H-E-B grocery store on March 25.
Hernandez allegedly knew Mendez because she had previously worked for him and was aware that he rented rooms at his property.
The women reportedly discussed renting a room and arranged to meet Mendez at his home.
Investigators allege that somewhere along the way, that rental discussion turned into a plan to rob and kill him.
According to the charging documents, Hernandez and Nunes stopped at a Home Depot before meeting Mendez and purchased items prosecutors say were later used to restrain and kill him.
Once inside Mendez’s home, the women allegedly attacked him upstairs.
Nunes reportedly told detectives that they held Mendez down and used duct tape and other materials to suffocate him over a period of roughly 30 minutes.
After Mendez died, investigators allege the women remained at his property for several days while attempting to take his money.
Authorities say they took his wallet and checks and tried to cash forged checks belonging to him.
Meanwhile, Mendez’s body allegedly remained inside the home.
According to court records, when the smell of decomposition became too strong, the women allegedly placed his body inside a plastic storage tote, covered it with towels and transported it to the wooded area along Rigsby Avenue.
There, investigators say, the body was dumped and set on fire.
When a detective later asked why the women allegedly chose to kill Mendez rather than simply rob him, Nunes reportedly gave a chilling explanation.
“We could get more money,” she allegedly said.
Investigators eventually located a stolen vehicle connected to the case being driven in Fort Worth.
Authorities say evidence recovered from the vehicle helped further connect the women to Mendez.
Police have also reportedly linked Hernandez and Nunes to another robbery involving an elderly man, though details of that separate case have not been fully released.
Nunes was arrested earlier this year and is being held on the murder and robbery allegations with bail reportedly set at approximately $1.1 million.
Hernandez was taken into custody Oct. 1 and remains jailed without bail.
Both women are accused of the crimes and are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
The investigation has turned what initially appeared to be a roadside brush fire into an extensive murder case involving surveillance footage, cellphone records, stolen property and an alleged confession detailing a plot authorities say began with an encounter at a grocery store.
