SAN ANTONIO – A capital murder case against a California man accused of the 2013 killing of Martha Batchelor in San Antonio has been dismissed just months after a DNA match linked him to the crime, court records show.
Bradford Hudson, 59, was released from the Bexar County Jail April 18, weeks after the charge was dismissed pending further investigation.
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Public records made it appear as if investigators had a strong case since they were able to link Hudson to the murder scene through DNA.
Affidavit: Cold case murder suspect wiped bloody hands on apartment wall
Hudson is currently free on bond for an unrelated misdemeanor assault case, involving an incident that took place while he was in jail, records show.
Hudson was first accused of killing and sexually assaulting Batchelor in her apartment after he was arrested on an unrelated domestic violence warrant in November in California. Hudson’s DNA was a match for evidence found in Batchelor’s apartment shortly after death on July 6, 2013, according to case records.
Investigators collected the DNA in the apartment from the interior bedroom wall next to Batchelor’s body, according to an arrest affidavit for Hudson.
“It appears (Hudson) wiped his hands on the wall in an attempt to remove the victim’s blood from his hands," investigators wrote in the affidavit.
The DNA was placed in a database, and investigators did not receive a match until Hudson was arrested on suspicion of corporal injury to a spouse six years after Batchelor was killed, according to the affidavit.
Investigators confirmed Hudson lived at the same apartment complex as Batchelor.
Batchelor was awakened around 4:30 a.m. by someone knocking at her door or coming into the apartment, investigators previously said. Police said Batchelor tried to call 911, but was likely overpowered by the man in her bedroom, in a scene that was described at the time as “heinous.”
Mugshot released of murder suspect in 2013 San Antonio cold case
San Antonio Police officials on Friday referred questions about the case to the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office.
A district attorney spokesperson has so far not responded to a request for comment on the dismissal.
Hudson’s attorney did not respond to a phone call seeking comment Friday afternoon.
