SAN ANTONIO — Nearly a year after the bodies of two young men were found in far south San Antonio, four suspects are now in custody and facing murder charges.
Officials with the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) said two of the suspects, 20-year-old Bradlee Grinde and 24-year-old Esteban Flores, had already been jailed for unrelated federal crimes. But this week SAPD arrested the remaining suspects, 22-year-old Michael Treviño and 22-year-old Austyn Hartnett, saying they killed the two unidentified victims before they were dumped in a “shallow grave” in the 100 block of Mauermann Road.
“We see movies, we see TV where it (investigations) happens in one day,” SAPD spokesperson Ricardo Guzman said. “It’s not like that. There’s a lot that goes into these investigations. Even a year later, they’re committed to solving these crimes.”
Guzman said police initially responded to a reported shooting last July in the area of West Avenue and Northwest Military, but “didn’t find evidence of a shooting.” The next day, he says, a family member of one of the apparent victims reported him missing. An abandoned rental vehicle was later found that same day on the east side.
Inside that car, according to Guzman: “a lot of blood” and other evidence the victims were inside.
Guzman said tracking devices on the car played a pivotal role in helping detectives determine where it had been. A few days later, on July 25, the victim were found in a wooded area on the south side.
Authorities haven’t shared information on a possible motive, but Guzman said the investigation is still ongoing.
All four suspects face capital murder charges, with Hartnett also facing a tampering with evidence charge. Treviño, Flores and Grinde face additional charges of abuse of a corpse.