The fact that San Antonio considers itself to be a "Sanctuary City."

[superbeets]

[h=1]Murder victim 'was beaten with aluminum baseball bats, suffocated with a plastic bag over his head, then dismembered and barbecued'[/h]

• Gabriel Moreno, of San Antonio, is on trial for the 2014 murder of 35-year-old Jose Luis Menchaca
• Moreno, his cousin Daniel Moreno Lopez, and girlfriend, Candie Dominguez, are all accused of beating and then killing Menchaca at their Texas home
• Witnesses testified that Menchaca was bound and gagged, beaten with aluminum baseball bats and suffocated with a plastic bag over his head
• His body was then dismembered and some of his remains burned in a barbecue pit
• His torso was found dumped in a plastic blue tub, authorities said
• If convicted of murder, Moreno faces life in prison

 

[superbeets]

A Texas man was bound and gagged, beaten with aluminium baseball bats, suffocated with a plastic bag over his head and then dismembered and barbecued, a jury heard Friday.
Three San Antonio residents are accused of viciously beating and then killing 35-year-old Jose Luis Menchaca in September 2014 after an altercation over an alleged drug deal gone bad.
Gabriel Moreno, 34, is currently on trial for the murder. His cousin, Daniel Moreno Lopez, and girlfriend, Candie Dominguez, are also accused of murdering Menchaca and are awaiting trial.
Jurors heard testimonies from witnesses and crime scene investigators on Friday.
Details of the attack were so gruesome the victim's mother had to be taken out of the courtroom on a stretcher, according to My San Antonio.

 

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Gabriel Moreno is on trial for the 2014 murder of 35-year-old Jose Luis Menchaca

 

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Menchaca, pictured above with his girlfriend, was beaten with aluminum baseball bats, suffocated with a plastic bag and then dismembered and burned in a barbecue pit

The gruesome crime happened at a San Antonia home on September 30, 2014, police said

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Authorities said Menchaca's body parts were burned in a barbecue pit at the San Antonio home following the murder

One witness, Dennis Austin, told the juror that what he saw in Lopez and Moreno's San Antonio home the day of the beating looked like a scene from a 'horror movie'.
Austin said he stopped by the Hillwood Drive home on September 30 and he saw Menchaca bound at his hands and feet, with his mouth taped, My San Antonio reports.
He said the walls and a couch were covered in blood.
'He (Menchaca) was bleeding from the cheeks, there was blood everywhere on him. It was like a horror movie,' he said.
Austin told the courtroom that he also witnessed Moreno and Lopez try to suffocate Menchaca with a pillow and plastic bag. He said Menchaca begged Lopez not to kill him.

 

[superbeets]

While Moreno and Lopez tried to suffocate Menchaca, Austin said a woman cleaned blood off the walls.
When asked why he did not call the police, Austin told prosecutors that he was 'terrified' and feared for his and his family's safety.
'I was scared, terrified stiff,' he said. 'I was afraid if I did call (police), I would be considered part of what happened and of retaliation.'
After the brutal beating, Austin said Lopez told him to help Moreno move Menchaca from the bedroom, where the attack occurred, to the garage.
He said Menchaca was still alive when he left the home but when he returned a few days later the man's torso was in a plastic blue tub with a plastic bag around the head.
'We saw the torso, head still attached, but detached, like a bobblehead,' he said.
'I will never forget that smell. It smelled worse than decayed animal.'
Menchaca's girlfriend, Sylvia Flores, also testified on Friday, telling the jury that on the day of the attack Dominguez led her and Menchaca to a back room in the home where Moreno and Lopez started to beat Menchaca with the aluminium bats.
She said the two cousins beat her boyfriend 'until he fell to the ground with his bloody head pushed up against a sofa'.
'He was on his back and was screaming for his life,' she said, according to San Antonio Express News.

 

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The girlfriend of Menchaca (pictured) had gotten into an altercation with Moreno a few days before the murder

 

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Moreno's cousin, Daniel Moreno Lopez , and girlfriend, Candie Dominguez are also accused of murdering Menchaca and are awaiting trial

 

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Flores said she was then stripped naked and bound. She believes she was kept in the home for roughly three days.
She said when Lopez untied her he showed her a barbecue pit and was poking 'a leg or arm, a joint' with a stick, according to Express News.
Flores said she escaped by asking her alleged captors to take her home so she could change her clothes.
When she got to the house, she ran out the back door for help.
Jurors also heard from crime scene investigator Angela Salvatierra, who said when police arrived to the San Antonio home it appeared that someone had tried to clean up.
'There was some cleaning type smells to the room as well. In the back bathroom portion of the back area there was a tote with portions of a human body in it,' she said.
If convicted, Moreno faces life in prison.

 

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Read more:

• Witness said bloody scene at San Antonio home like ‘a horror movie’ - San Antonio Express-News
• San Antonio woman describes seeing boyfriend’s remains on barbecue pit - San Antonio Express-News

 

[Enfuego]

Let's be honest, the victim was not the most savory character and was caught in the middle of working a bad drug deal.

Not a reason to become a murder victim but let's paint the entire picture.

 

[RunMaker]

I see this every day.

 

[RunMaker]

Almost forgot...... they were just dreaming.