A 23-year-old man killed early on Dec. 5 had only recently moved to the Rio Grande Valley when a member of an active street gang is alleged to have shot and killed him during a drug sale, according to Edinburg police investigators.
Edinburg police arrested 19-year-old McAllen resident Daniel Miranda Jr. after a traffic stop in Los Fresnos less than a day after the shooting and charged him with capital murder over the death of Anthony Demarco Maldonado.
Miranda’s mother, Monica Acosta, a 44-year-old McAllen resident, was with her son during the traffic stop and is charged with hindering his apprehension.
Both the mother and son are also charged with tampering with physical evidence, possession of cocaine, possession of methamphetamine and possession of marijuana.
The shooting occurred at approximately 2:30 a.m. that day and police found Maldonado’s body in an alleyway near the 3800 block of Sarah Evans Street after responding to a call about shots fired, police said in a previous news release.
A probable cause affidavit for Miranda and Acosta states Maldonado was found bleeding from his chest with his pockets turned out, without his wallet and the man was missing one Nike tennis shoe.
Investigators began canvassing the area and discovered video with audio from a nearby residence that showed a large black sedan drive up to the spot where Maldonado was found at 2:16 a.m.
“The Black sedan honks a few times and waits. The black sedan honks a second time and then multiple gunshots are heard,” the affidavit stated. “The black sedan stays parked for a few seconds and takes off at a high rate of speed, peeling out.”
A homicide investigator then made contact with Maldonado’s immediate family who said that on Dec. 4 at about 10:50 p.m. a Hispanic man they knew as “Danny,” who drove an older model Cadillac, had picked up Maldonado, according to the affidavit.
Meanwhile, police canvassing the area found Maldonado’s missing shoe on the side of the road in the 400 block of North Mon Mack Road, several blocks from Sarah Evans Street, and also found an iPhone at the intersection of Mon Mack Road and University Drive, which belonged to Maldonado, police say.
The investigation revealed that Maldonado had recently moved to the Valley and was involved with selling drugs, according to investigators.
“Anthony had only known Danny for about 3 weeks and their communication was mostly about illicit drug sales,” the affidavit stated.
However, Maldonado’s family actively assisted police in the investigation and provided police permission to access Maldonado’s phone, which revealed conversations between the two about a drug sale with Miranda telling Maldonado to send money to a money-transfer application. The profile, police say, belonged to Miranda’s mother.
The investigator says in the affidavit that authorities located a phone number for Miranda and police called him.
“A phone number for Danny was located and contact was made with Danny who said that he was willing to come by the Edinburg Police Department to talk but he was eating with his family in McAllen, Texas,” the affidavit stated.
However, Los Fresnos police found Acosta’s silver Toyota Highlander on Highway 100 and conducted a traffic stop.
“During the traffic stop police also noticed a spent bullet casing on the passenger floorboard where Danny was sitting. Danny and Monica were detained and transported to Edinburg Police Department,” the affidavit stated.
Police also reported finding sand in the vehicle.
In an interview at the Edinburg jail, investigators say Miranda admitted to being the last person seen with Maldonado and said they had fought inside the Cadillac before he forcibly removed Maldonado from the vehicle.
Investigators obtained warrants for Maldonado’s Cadillac, his cellphone and Acosta’s Toyota Highlander.
The Cadillac was at Acosta’s McAllen residence, which is where police say they found bloody clothes within a bag inside a trash can and a bullet inside a washer with two pairs of white tennis shoes that were recently washed.
“Inside Monica’s bedroom police found two digital scales, a safe containing a .22 caliber revolver, and empty gun magazines to a Glock and Sig Sauer,” the affidavit stated.
And the search of Miranda’s Cadillac revealed the shooting occurred inside that vehicle.
There were two bullet holes in the back seat. Investigators found two bullet projectiles embedded in the backseat and blood was found in plain view inside the center console armrest, investigators said.
“Edinburg Police conducted (a) luminal test in Danny’s vehicle and it resulted in a positive for the presence of blood inside the vehicle,” the affidavit stated.
Investigators say there was blood spatter in the vehicle and evidence of an unsuccessful attempt to clean up blood, in addition to the vehicle missing the front seat head rests.
A search of Miranda’s bedroom resulted in the discovery of a little more than an ounce of marijuana, 2.77 grams of cocaine and 3.32 grams of methamphtamine, according to the affidavit.
Acosta received a total of $235,000 in bonds while her son received a total of $1.73 million in bonds.
Both suspects remain jailed, records indicate.
