BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – A San Antonio woman initially charged with a 2024 murder took a plea deal on a lesser charge Thursday afternoon.
As a part of the deal, the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office elected to waive Julie Marie Lopez’s murder charge in favor of an aggravated robbery charge that carries a 15-year prison sentence.
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Lopez, 20, has already earned credit for 499 days of time served behind bars.
Judge Christine Del Prado presided over Lopez’s case in Bexar County’s 227th Criminal District Court.
SAPD’s initial report
San Antonio police officers were dispatched on a shooting call just after 4 a.m. on Oct. 26, 2024, to the Villas of Oak Creste apartments in the 5300 block of Fredericksburg Road.
The 911 caller told authorities they heard gunshots coming from a nearby apartment and that multiple rounds went through the caller’s walls.
While the San Antonio Police Department said the 911 caller was uninjured, officers arrived at the scene and later determined that the gunshots came from an adjacent apartment.
When the officers gained entry into the apartment, police said the officers found a man, later identified as Isaiah Guevara, inside the apartment with an apparent gunshot wound.
How police discovered Lopez and Guevara’s connection
In a January 2025 warrant for Lopez’s arrest obtained by KSAT, investigators found Instagram messages between Guevara and Lopez on the night of the shooting, including plans to meet.
Police said Lopez, who was 19 at the time of the shooting, initially sent Guevara her address to pick her up with a rideshare driver, but Lopez later said she found a ride.
Surveillance video from a QuikTrip near Guevara’s apartment showed Lopez and Guevara inside the convenience store. Lopez was seen drinking from a QuikTrip cup with a straw, black lid and red liquid, the affidavit states.
Police said a witness was driving the vehicle that Guevara, 20, and Lopez exited and returned from the convenience store and then back to the apartment complex, according to the affidavit.
Lopez sent a voice message to the second witness at 3:42 a.m. on the day of the incident, indicating the group was “hiding,” the affidavit states.
The witness said they did not remember the voice message sent by Lopez and denied picking up anyone else, according to the affidavit.
An anonymous tipster told police on Jan. 6, 2025, that they had heard Lopez talking with a relative after a Crime Stoppers bulletin was posted in which she admitted to being at the victim’s apartment that night and described the event as a setup, court documents show.
Lopez told police the next day that she was at Guevara’s apartment on the night of the shooting. She refused to identify the other two people she had been with that day and who she referenced in the voice message, according to the affidavit.
Lopez then told officers, “It’s my choice,” and “It’s my mistake,” when she was asked about taking responsibility for the murder while the other suspects remained free.
On Jan. 15, 2025, a separate witness told police Lopez had been part of the setup for Guevara to be robbed. One of her friends allegedly killed Guevara while they were in his apartment, the affidavit states.
In March 2026, San Antonio police initially arrested and charged Felix Brandon Garcia, 24, in connection with Guevara’s murder.
However, due to insufficient evidence, court records show Garcia’s murder case was dismissed on June 3.
‘It’s just not fair’
After proceedings concluded Thursday, Denise Villarreal, Guevara’s mother, and Christina Rodriguez, Guevara’s aunt, criticized Lopez’s plea deal.
“Them (the Bexar County DA’s Office) changing it from, truly, a murder charge to a robbery charge is upsetting,” Rodriguez said. “And that’s why we keep fighting. We’re going to keep coming for the hearings because it’s just not fair.”
Villarreal and Rodriguez accused Lopez of being untruthful during Thursday’s court proceedings.
“She’s a lying little girl,” Villarreal said. “She tried to lie again in court.”
“She did try to lie, but they (the prosecution) had enough sufficient evidence to question her. ... Even though she says that she’s sorry, she is not sorry,” Rodriguez said. “She set this up for him (Guevara) to be taken away from us.”
“Still, I don’t feel sorry for her at all,” Villarreal said.
The sisters said they are hopeful for new developments regarding possible suspects connected to the case.
Despite his dismissed murder charge, they singled out Garcia by name.
“The one that shot my Isaiah, my nephew, is free walking the streets, gets to see his family, wake up every morning and see his mom,” Rodriguez said. “Isaiah can’t do that. Isaiah’s gone.”
More coverage of this story on KSAT: