SAN ANTONIO – Eliza Polendo thought she had answers, but then they slipped through her fingers.
Her son, Angelo Polendo, 37, was killed in October 2016. He was found lying in the street near the intersection of North Sabinas and Lombrano streets, shot, and possibly run over.
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When the handcuffs clicked a little over two weeks later on Fabian Pena and Donnye Green, who police charged with capital murder, Eliza Polendo thought that meant justice.
"I wanted them to go get what they had coming to them," she said.
But less than two months later, the charges were dismissed. Prosecutors cited "insufficient evidence" based on information received after Pena's and Green's arrests.
Police had claimed in Green and Pena's arrest affidavits that the pair had lured Polendo out to sell some synthetic pot and then shot Polendo while robbing him.
However, Bexar County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Leslie Garza said that after reviewing the evidence they had, prosecutors determined "we had the wrong suspects, or that SAPD got the wrong suspects" and rejected the cases for insufficient evidence.
The capital murder charges against Green and Pena were dismissed in orders dated Dec. 20, 2016.
Eliza Polendo said she had a hard time understanding why the charges were dismissed. "Something about the bullets - the way the bullets were coming from," she said.
Polendo said police told her "that (Green and Pena) didn't do it, but they knew something about (Angelo Polendo). You know? About where he was."
More than a year has passed since the charges were dropped, and Polendo is getting frustrated.
"I don't understand why (investigators) don't call me and tell me 'hey, you know, this is going on,' but they just don't," she said.
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She said she has learned there's someone else who may know about her son's murder but isn't talking. However, she hopes someone will.
"I know there's people out there that know what happened," Polendo said. "But they just don't want to talk. I don't know."
"I just want to be in peace, and move on, you know?"
Polendo asked that anyone with information call Crime Stoppers or the SAPD Homicide unit.
When asked about the case, an SAPD public information officer sent an email statement, reading: "The case is currently under investigation and will be refiled with the DA’s office once the investigation is complete."