The civil division of the Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office is seeking a Texas Attorney General’s Office opinion on whether it has to release the probable cause affidavit for the arrest of a 28-year-old man accused of stabbing a woman to death in a parking lot last week.
The Monitor requested the affidavit for Larry Charles Culbert III’s arrest Monday and received the notification from assistant district attorney Amanda Diana Austin later that day.
Austin filed the request on behalf of the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office.
Alamo police accuse Culbert of stabbing and killing 47-year-old Andrea Socorro Reyna last Thursday at approximately 6:30 p.m. in the parking lot of the Bealls plaza at 1449 Duranta Avenue.
“Officers quickly arrived at location and observed a female lying face down motionless and a male subject in close proximity who was taken into custody,” police said in a news release.
Reyna, accompanied by her 11-year-old child, met up with Culbert at the Walmart in Alamo, according to police.
“After they finished shopping they relocated across the street to the Bealls plaza parking lot. They got out of their vehicles and a verbal dispute began regarding jealousy. The suspect then knocked the victim to the ground and with a knife cut the victims throat and the suspect then turned the knife on himself, causing a self-inflicted stab wound to his neck area,” the news release stated.
He was transferred to a local hospital and Child Protective Services was called to reunite the child with a family member, police say.
In Austin’s letter to the AG, the civil attorney claims that despite the affidavit using a pseudonym for the child, the 11-year-old would be identified because the affidavit contains the name of an immediate family member.
Alamo police have publicly identified the child’s mother as the alleged victim and it’s unclear whether any other family members are named in the affidavit.
The Monitor also consented to redactions in the document, a point Austin did not disclose to the AG.
Austin also argues that the affidavit should be withheld because it contains information about an investigation into the abuse or neglect of a minor.
Alamo police have not said whether they have initiated an investigation into the abuse or neglect of a minor.
A footnote in Austin’s letter provides a little more clarification on that argument, namely that Texas Family Code says that abuse or neglect includes putting a child in a situation that can cause physical, mental or psychological harm — such as a child witnessing the mother’s alleged murder.
Lastly, Austin argues that since she doesn’t know whether two other witnesses who reported the crime are minors, it is unclear to the civil attorney whether the information should be withheld.
“It is unclear from the Affidavit whether the other two witnesses who reported the criminal act were minors. However, the affidavit contains the two other witnesses’ personally identifiable information, thus it is unclear whether the identities of the two reporting parties must be withheld,” Austin wrote.
As for Culbert, Alamo Municipal Judge Celia Garcia set no bond after ruling that Culbert is a flight risk.
