SAN ANGELO – A San Angelo man has been arrested in Abilene after being indicted by a Tom Green County grand jury in September for the capital murder of Jacob Hernandez.
According to court documents, investigators were dispatched to the apartments located at 2401 Lillie Street for a shooting at 3:24 a.m.
The San Angelo police officer who responded observed a firearm on the steps leading to apartment 816. The officer also observed damage to the door frame of the apartment and the locking portion of the door. A female was encountered in the apartment and the officer noticed a male, identified as Jacob Hernandez, laying on his back with blood on his shirt.
Jacob Hernandez was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest.
Surveillance video for the Nueva Vista Apartments was reviewed and a dark colored four door sedan was observed entering the parking lot adjacent to the apartment.
Two subjects exited the vehicle, wearing garments and face coverings to conceal their identities, and entered the breezeway where the apartment is located.
The Ring doorbell video reviewed showed one of the subjects was carrying an Adidas brand backpack that was black and white in color. The subject was also wearing shredded blue jeans, a dark colored hoodie with stripes on the sleeve, and with black tennis shoes with white or reflective colors on the heels.
According to a crime scene technician, the Adidas backpack was left at the murder scene, and it was collected as evidence. Inside the backpack was a pendant dogtag-style necklace with a female’s picture depicted on the tag. The female depicted was identified as a deceased woman and her kin was contacted.
Investigators learned that the pendant had been made and was distributed to the woman’s grandchildren. One of the grandchildren, M.G., had been arrested with the defendant earlier in the year for burglarizing vehicles.
M.G. was contacted and interviewed by investigators on June 8th, 2021. They learned that the defendant had exchanged property with M.G. and the pendant must have been left in the backpack. The defendant owned an Adidas backpack.
Also interviewed was V.G. on June 9th, 2021, who stated the defendant was had her residence on May 22ndand 23rd, 2021 where the defendant shot out the windows to her vehicle. The defendant then took her vehicle without her consent. V.G. said she noticed the defendant was arrested in Coke County.
The defendant, Francisco Morales, was arrested in Coke County on May 23rd, 2021.
Investigators obtained a copy of the arrest report, body-cam footage, and in-car video from the Coke County Sheriff’s office. Observed was Morales wearing shredded jean and black colored tennis shoes. An Adidas backpack was recovered with Morales where Morales adamantly stated the backpack was his. The backpack’s appearance was consistent with the video from the murder scene.
The investigators interviewed Morales’ mother on June 10th, 2021 and she advised that she has observed her son with an Adidas backpack. She also stated that she observed her son wearing a dark colored hoodie with stripes on the sleeve.
The defendant’s mother was asked if she picked up her son up from the Tom Green County Jail on May 23rd and she advised that they came back to Abilene. Morales left after they returned to Abilene on May 23rd and Morales’ mother stated that Morales has a room and property at her residence.
On June 10th, detectives and the investigators applied and were granted a search warrant for the residence that Morales was known to stay at.
Located were the shredded blue jeans, similar to the ones worn by Morales in the security footage. Black Nike shoes with reflective colored heels were also located.
The defendant’s mother told investigators she had been trying to contact Francisco Morales on her old cellphone that she provided him.
A search warrant was obtained for a cellular service to include AT&T for the time and date that the suspects were observed using mobile devices on security footage. The data search found that the cellphone that Morales had used was located in the vicinity of Nueva Vista 32 times around the time of the murder.
Francisco Morales was arrested in Abilene on Sept. 17th, 2021 on capital murder charges and is currently in the Taylor County Jail on $500,000.00 bond.
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