Butcher Knife is Exhibit 1 and Bloody and Disturbing Photos in Delacruz Murder Trial

SAN ANGELO, TX -- Veteran San Angelo Police Department Sgt. Doug Thomas told jurors Tuesday morning that the crime scene where 5-year-old Naiya Villegas was murdered was, “gruesome, bloody and disturbing.”  

Thomas was the only witness Tuesday morning and exhibit one was the butcher knife he found at the scene.  In hundreds of photos of the house in the 2700 block of Houston St. jurors saw a trail of blood leading out of the front door of the house down the sidewalk to a green Chevy SUV parked on the street.  

Thomas testified that there were blood drops under the car where someone had stood by the vehicle and thrown the butcher knife across the street into a vacant lot where Thomas later found the weapon.  He described to jurors and they saw photos of the large black handled knife that he said was unique because the tip looked like it had been broken off and ground down to where it was round.

Jurors also saw hundreds of photos of blood outside the house and inside the house.  District Attorney Allison Palmer detailed in the hundreds of photos the blood found in every room of the house especially in Naiya’s room and the living room.  

Palmer and Thomas led jurors through the house showing them blood on the bathroom window where they say Delacruz entered the house.  Then there was blood in Tanya Bermea’s bedroom on the door handles and light switches.

The jury saw what Thomas described as disturbing photos of the blood soaked comforter and sheets on Naiya’s bed and on the living room floor.  

Jurors also saw photos of Delacruz the night he was arrested at the scene.  There was blood on his hands and his jeans and his shirt was soaked like he had tried to wash his hands and the knife.  

Testimony continues this afternoon in the Tom Green County Courthouse.