SAN ANTONIO – A veteran San Antonio police officer on Tuesday painted for a jury a graphic picture of a double-murder scene he faced as he answered a call for a domestic disturbance call on the night of Jan. 21, 2016.
Officer Jeff Markgraf testified in the capital murder trial of Luis Antonio Arroyo.
The defendant is accused of killing Quikether Harris, 36, and Rodney Spring. He's also charged with stabbing Harris' mother, Tandylyn Jackson.
Markgraf said as he arrived at the woman's apartment in the 3800 block of Sherril Brook, he found the door slightly ajar.
"As I look inside, I notice a female victim laying on the floor with what appeared to be a knife sticking out of her chest," Markgraf testified.
The woman was later identified as Harris.
Further inside the apartment, Markgraf said he found the body of Spring, who was shot to death.
In another room, the officer found Harris' mother.
"All her wounds appeared to be towards her abdomen," Markgraf said. "She appeared to be trying to talk or answer me, but she had labored breathing, so I couldn't understand what she was saying."
Jackson survived and would later identify Arroyo, 41, as the man who attacked them following an argument over a package of cigarettes.
Arroyo fled after the attack and was later picked up by his girlfriend, Sandra De Hoyos.
"I asked him what was wrong, and he said, 'Don't worry about it,'" she testified.
De Hoyos took Arroyo to her apartment, where he was arrested following a brief police standoff, where he repeatedly threatened to kill himself.
If Arroyo is convicted of capital murder, prosecutors have said they plan to ask the jury for the death penalty.
Testimony is expected to continue Wednesday in Judge Kevin O'Connell's 227th District Court.