BEXAR COUNTY, Texas — A teen who was just 15-years-old when a carjacking murder took place last year has now been certified to stand trial as an adult.
The move comes the same week the victim, who was shot multiple times, would have turned 20.
It was dark, after 9 p.m., when Bexar County deputies arrived at an isolated spot near Hume Road and Highway 281 in far south Bexar County last August to a tragic scene.
Two young men were on the ground, both shot.
One, 19-year-old Ricardo De La Fuente, was pronounced dead on the spot. Another was rushed to the hospital with several wounds, and he survived.
From the outset, detectives said they had clues.
They recovered a cell phone and spent shell casings and when he was well enough, they had the eyewitness account of the survivor who said he and his friend were trying to make a deal to sell a car.
In juvenile court this week, Judge Cruz Shaw listened to evidence and ruled that the now 16-year-old should be tried as an adult for the capital murder.
On the witness stand, the detective handling the case identified his primary suspect as Andrew Watson.
The detective said a cell phone recovered near the bodies belonged to Watson and telephone company records confirmed the phone did indeed belong to the teen.
They said when they compared shell casings found at the scene to a gun that was later recovered, they found a match.
The detective said they compared social media audio and video messages between the victim and Watson and found common threads.
When he was well enough to talk, the survivor told detectives the person who pulled the trigger was a male with a distinctive tattoo on his neck, matching Watson's description.
The detective said witnesses told him while Watson was making plans to test drive a Dodge Charger for a $5,000 cash sale, he was telling friends he had no intention of following through with a purchase, that his intention was to commit a robbery.
But robbery turned to murder when multiple shots were fired and the two victims were dumped in the roadway.
For now, Watson has been moved to the adult system and he will remain jailed while he waits for his first appearance in adult court on June 1.