SAN ANTONIO — A teen sentenced for a gruesome murder just two years ago is aging out of the juvenile system and could go free on Wednesday, according to the victim's distraught mom.
Evidence shows 17-year-old Sebastian Carpio was killed in September 2020.
Days after he disappeared, Sebastian's body was found stuffed in the trunk of a stolen car after the vehicle was set on fire in a remote pasture in west Bexar County.
His mom, Ana Maria Carpio, is in the midst of a campaign to convince the judge in the case to not let the convicted killer walk free after being in a juvenile facility for just 11 months, having served less than two years total.
Carpio said "He received a sentence of 20 years for manslaughter and 25 years for aggravated robbery."
Because the teen was just days shy of his 17th birthday at the time of the murder, Carpio said prosecutors with the Bexar County District Attorney's office made a decision to handle the case in the juvenile system, instead of adult court.
Now, as the convicted man turns 18, his case is up for review.
Carpio said "So the state needs to make a decision of whether to grant him adult parole for his remaining 22 year sentence term or transfer him to an adult prison and have him serve the remaining sentence term of 22 years."
Carpio said she has been told that he could be set free.
"Yes. It is because he has no criminal history. This is the first time he is convicted of murder, and he doesn't have any previous history," Carpio said.
Sharing screen shots of what she calls the teen's social media presence before his arrest, Carpio said the photographs he routinely posted featured him posing with both long rifles and handguns.
"He was 16-years-old at the time he took my son's life. He was a couple of days shy from turning 17. Yet the system, the justice system decided to try him as a child, not as an adult, just a couple of days shy from him turning 17, yet he was already handling these type of weapons," Carpio said.
Carpio said facts revealed in court about the shooting death of her son during the presentation of the original case were disturbing.
"He claims it was an accident, yet he had my son in his backyard for more than five hours. Meanwhile he went out and committed an aggravated robbery, stole a vehicle at gunpoint, put my son's body in the trunk and burned the vehicle," Carpio said.
Carpio said caring community members have been writing victim impact statement letters to the court, urging the judge to keep the man in jail.
"I am hoping the court, the judge who will make the decision to release him or transfer him to adult prison, will consider those statements because the words, the statements are so profound. They really express their concern about having this individual released back out into our community," Carpio said.
Carpio said she has also sent letters to officials about new social media posts she finds disturbing. Carpio said someone is posting messages on accounts belonging to the man, in support of a campaign to win his release.
"Snapchat was one place where a post was made to free him in September. The words in the picture were 'free me this September' and asking his followers to message him," Carpio said, wondering how a person in custody could be running a social media campaign.
Carpio is still collecting victim impact statements to present to the court. She said because the convicted person is a juvenile, his name is not being used and any letters should reference: TJJD # 1287000 and sent to: justiceforsebastiancarpio@gmail.com
Cases are often postponed, but Carpio said as of this weekend, the case is still scheduled for a hearing in the 386th Juvenile District Court on Wednesday at 9 a.m.
On Sunday afternoon, Carpio launched a change.org petition to keep her son's killer in jail. By the end of the day more than 1,300 people had signed on.
Sebastian is lovingly remembered in this obituary.