San Angelo Police Investigate Seven Mysterious Deaths in 30 Days

The San Angelo death toll rose to seven over the weekend, continuing one of the city’s longest runs of mysterious deaths in recent history.

With the body count rising in rapid succession, citizens are demanding information on cases jammed up in a slow and overburdened legal system.

“It’s definitely abnormal for these to occur in our community, and obviously there aren’t any connections between any of them. But it is odd. It stands out in my mind as a situation that I haven’t seen before,” Police Chief Tim Vasquez said on Tuesday. 

“It is unique to have all of these occur in such a short span of time,” he continued. “We respond to deceased people all the time, regularly. But all the incidents have been very high profile and odd.”

The deaths began on July 9, when the body of 53-year-old David Lee DeWitt was discovered lying pants-less under a gazebo at Martin Luther King Park at roughly 4 p.m.

DeWitt’s family was on scene to identify him and Detective James Hernandez was called in to investigate. After roughly an hour at the park, Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Fred Buck pronounced DeWitt dead and ordered an autopsy. The results of that autopsy are still pending, however Hernandez remains assigned to the case and will be the lead investigator should the autopsy indicate DeWitt’s death was not natural. There were no initial indications of foul play.

A second body was discovered on July 18 out on Old Sterling City Highway by a couple who had seen an unfamiliar truck sitting on the shoulder of the road. According to the responding deputy’s report, the sole occupant of the vehicle, 28-year-old Heather McCall, of Midland, was found dead in the passenger seat of her black Dodge Ram 1500.  

A preliminary autopsy report was undetermined in the days following the discovery of McCall, and Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Lieutenant Christina Lopez confirmed on Tuesday that detectives are still awaiting the full autopsy report. Detective Cory Speck is the lead investigator on the case.

On July 25, police were summoned to the 200 block of 13^th St. for the report of a dead body. On scene officers located the body of 24-year-old David Titus, who had been run down on his bike and shot in the neck. The death was ruled a homicide. 

Several days later, on Aug. 5, police charged suspect Stephano Miguel Culbreath with murder. Culbreath remains in the county jail and further information is not likely to be released until trial. He has not yet been indicted on the charge. 

Less than a week after the homicide, the body of an unidentified male in his 30s-40s was found in a late-model Jeep parked behind Church’s Chicken. Police were dispatched to the scene at roughly 8:22 p.m. on Aug. 1 for an unknown problem and found a dead man positioned upside down in the driver's seat in the vehicle at 3006 Knickerbocker Road. An autopsy was ordered by Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace Eddie Howard; Detective Soto is working the case. 

“That was a very odd situation,” Police Chief Tim Vasquez said without divulging more. “We definitely need to wait till we get autopsy results to determine if foul play was involved.”

A hit-and-run vehicle-vs.-skateboarder crash claimed the life of 21-year-old Joe Carlos Lopez in the early morning hours of Aug. 2, launching a simultaneous hit-and-run and a criminal investigation into the crash and the driver. Both investigations remain open and police are still actively seeking information from the public on the suspect vehicle, spotted on a surveillance camera near the crash site in the 1300 block of S. Chadbourne St. As of yet, no suspect has been apprehended. 

“Our Hit-and-Run Investigator Steve Quade and Detective Soto are working that case.” Lt. Howard said. “Of course we’re still looking for information from the public. If anybody has anything, they can surely call it in to us.”

Quade said that while there have not been any substantive leads thus far, investigators do believe they’ve narrowed the vehicle down to a white Ford Explorer that will likely have damage to the right front and headlight.

“We’re getting some leads and we’re following up on every one of them, but none of them have panned out,” Quade said. “We need someone to talk.”

Quade said that officers have done the measurements needed for a reconstruction of the crash and are waiting for further information to develop before proceeding with that portion of the investigation. He urges all citizens with knowledge of the crash, the vehicle or its driver to contact police immediately. Tips may be given anonymously.

The following day, an unconscious infant elicited a further emergency call on Aug. 3 at the River Bend Estates at roughly 1:50 p.m. On scene, first responders located an 11-month-old male infant, who was unconscious and transported to Shannon Medical Center via ambulance. The baby died shortly thereafter. Detective Bobby Elrod and Detective Jeremy Cannady are working the case. An autopsy has been ordered on the infant.

“We’re waiting on results from the autopsy still, and that’s going to be the answer on all of these,” SAPD Criminal Investigations Commander Lieutenant David Howard said, referencing all of the recent deaths. “[The detectives are] still working on these cases and waiting on information to come back from the lab in Lubbock. There’s no changes until we get some results.”

On Aug. 7, the death toll struck seven when 2-year-old toddler Treswawn Marquveis Collins slipped off a flotation device at Mary E. Lee Beach at around 9:30 p.m. and drowned. An autopsy has been ordered in that case as well.

“The medical examiner’s office that we use does autopsies for a large portion of the state, so it depends,” Vasquez said. “Sometimes it takes up to six months for us to get those (autopsy results).”

Vasquez said that while the circumstances of many of the deaths were odd, each situation was different and there isn’t a single measure that could have been implemented to prevent all of them.

“We’re doing our best to bring these cases to closure, regardless of what the autopsy results say,” Police Chief Tim Vasquez said. “But these cases are unique and like many, many other cases, we usually get to a point where we have to wait for the autopsy before we even know what direction to go.”

If you have any information about the identity and whereabouts of the suspect involved in the hit-and-run or the vehicle, please call San Angelo Hit-and-Run Investigator Steven Quade at 325-657-4253 or Officer Josh Loudermilk at 325-657-4307. To remain anonymous, tip online at http://bit.ly/SAPDTips247 or call the SAPD’s 24-hour Tip Hotline at 1-855-TIPS-247. You can also text your tips, text TIP SAPD followed by your message, to 888777.