Accused Child Murderer Faces Death Penalty Jury Beginning Monday

SAN ANGELO, TX -- The 53 remaining potential jurors in the Isidro Delacruz capital murder trial meet Monday in the Tom Green County Courthouse as attorneys make their final strikes to seat a panel of 12 with alternates as the trial gets underway.

27-year-old Delacruz is accused of slashing the throat of 5-year-old Naiya Villegas on September 2, 2014.  Villegas was the daughter of Delacruz’s girlfriend. He is charged with capital murder of a child under ten years of age and faces a possible death sentence.  

As we reported earlier, according to a complaint filed by investigating officer Carlton T. Kolbe, then 23-year-old Isidro Miguel Delacruz entered the residence of his ex-girlfriend Tanya Bermea through a back window in the 2700 block of Houston St. shortly before committing the murder and refused to leave.

At the time of the break-in, only Bermea and her daughter, Villegas, were in the house. However, shortly thereafter Bermea exited to call her mother, Jesusita Bermea and the two returned, but Delacruz refused to let them back inside.

Bermea then drove to Delacruz’s mother’s house located in the 3100 block of Lindell St. to seek assistance in removing Delacruz from the residence, and when she returned her daughter’s throat had been slit and Delacruz was covering the wound with paper towels, the complaint states.

“Tanya Bermea said that when she walked into the residence the defendant got up and punched her several times, then pushed her outside onto the sidewalk and started choking her,” Detective Kolbe wrote.

Responding officer Marcus Rodriguez reported that he had been dispatched to the scene for a civil disturbance, and upon arrival found Bermea in the front yard and observed Delacruz walking into the residence.

Once inside, Rodriguez observed Villegas lying on the living room floor and Delacruz holding paper towels to the victim’s throat.

Kolbe’s walk-through of the residence turned up a horrific scene, with blood on the walls, blinds, floor and Villegas’ bedroom, as well as in the kitchen mixed with water. Crime scene photos of Delacruz revealed a laceration on the back of his left upper arm.

The suspected murder weapon was found underneath a vehicle parked at the end of a walkway, where blood visibly marked the area.

Following their arrival on scene, police immediately took Delacruz into custody and transported him to the county jail, where he was booked for murder.

Tanya Bermea, Jesusita Bermea and Naiya Villegas were transported to the hospital. Villegas succumbed to her injuries within an hour of the initial call made to dispatch. Both Bermeas were treated for non life-threatening injuries.

Attorneys and District Judge Ben Woodward agreed that pretrial publicity including reporting of San Angelo Live required such a large jury pool.  Initial jury selection was held in the McNease Convention Center because there was not a courtroom large enough to accommodate that many potential jurors.  

Attorneys have filed over 100 motions dealing with everything from suppressing evidence to expert witness testimony to jury selection.  Dozens of people have been subpoenaed and will testify beginning Monday. The trial is expected to take about three weeks.