SAN ANTONIO – A West Side neighborhood wants answers after San Antonio police said a man was killed and his body stored in a bloody bag in the backyard of his home.
The body was stuffed in a trash bag nearly a week ago at a home along Vera Cruz near Southwest 19th Street.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the body as Daniel Antonio Ordonez, 54. He died from a gunshot wound to the head. The medical examiner ruled his death as a homicide.
According to a San Antonio Police Department report, Ordonez lived at the Vera Cruz home with his son — Daniel Sebastian Ordonez, 31 — and daughter-in-law.
The younger Ordonez was taken into custody and booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on April 9, jail records indicate.
He has been charged with tampering with physical evidence, a third-degree felony, Bexar County court records show. A judge set his bond at $150,000.
The victim’s girlfriend said she had not been in contact with the elder Ordonez for several days. She and the victim’s ex-wife had been in touch about not being able to get a hold of him.
Police found the victim’s cellphone, truck and keys on a property off near Interstate 35 and West Theo Avenue. Neighbors told KSAT he was a realtor and was working on the property before flipping it.
According to police, the victim’s girlfriend said the last text from the elder Ordonez indicated he had an argument with his son and daughter-in-law. He stopped texting after that.
Police said Ordonez’s son told investigators the last time he saw his father was Easter night.
Neighbor Diana Escobedo said she watched police take the son and daughter-in-law into custody and is still struggling to process what she saw.
“It’s crazy ... It’s mind-blowing his own son would do something like that,” Escobedo said. “His son moved in with him not too long ago… maybe a year-and-a-half ago. I’m hoping he didn’t do the crime.”
Escobedo said the elder Ordonez moved into the neighborhood about five years ago from El Paso. She described him as friendly and a man of faith, who also served at his church.
As of Monday afternoon, the younger Ordonez remains in jail. Investigators have not announced whether more suspects will be named or additional charges will be filed.
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