The 37-year-old Mercedes man charged in a weekend homicide is accused of shooting his ex-wife’s daughter, who he was “involved” with, documents in the case revealed.
The U.S. Marshals arrested Guadalupe Ybarra Jr. and 36-year-old Brownsville resident Esmeralda Chapa on Sunday night at about 11:40 p.m. on murder warrants for their arrest of allegations that they fatally shot 19-year-old Ruth Esmeralda Olvera on Saturday.
The investigation that lead to their arrests, which occurred in Brownsville, began at approximately 8:37 p.m. Saturday night after Mercedes responded to 2102 W. Expressway 83 for a welfare concern that was reclassified to homicide after police found Olvera dead in a 2013 Chevrolet Cruze with a gunshot wound to her left torso.
An investigator says in the arrest affidavits that authorities made contact with Olvera’s mother after discovering the 19-year-old’s body.
She told detectives that the last she heard from her daughter was via a text message she received at 11:20 a.m. that day, police say.
She “stated that she believes her ex-husband Guadalupe Ybarra is responsible for Ruth’s death because Mr. Ybarra, who was also involved with Ruth is a very violent and aggressive person,” the affidavit stated.
That same day, investigators contacted and met with Ybarra.
“Mr. Ybarra stated that Ruth sent him a text message at 11:00 AM that read ‘Ontas,’ Mr. Ybarra and his father met with Ruth at a park in Weslaco, TX,” the affidavit read.
He then told investigators that Olvera called him at 11:30 a.m., saying that people in a black Chevrolet Silverado and an older model green vehicle were following her and that the people from the green older car approached her and were banging on her vehicle, according to the affidavit.
“Mr. Ybarra said that the line then got disconnected and (he) did not hear from her again. Mr. Ybarra stated that the messages and phone calls that he made with Ruth (are) erased and are no longer saved on his phone,” the charging document stated.
Investigators say Ybarra also mentioned that his vehicle, a blue 2013 Hyundai Sonata, was left in Brownsville at his friend’s apartment complex.
That’s Chapa, who investigators also met with.
According to police, she said she was with Ybarra the Saturday Olvera was killed.
“Through the investigation it was learned that Ms. Chapa’s and Mr. Ybarra’s stories were inconsistent and contrary to each other,” the affidavit read.
The next day, police searched Ybarra’s phone and learned he cleared his browsing history but still had his recent searches available. Those searches showed Ybarra sought information on how to use and shoot a Taurus 9mm PT92 pistol, as well as looking up information about the interior of a 2013 Chevrolet Cruze — the same vehicle where police found Olvera’s body, police said.
“While searching his messages it was also learned that Mr. Ybarra had been messaging Ms. Olvera excessively in a harassing manner such as asking for her whereabouts, and if she had been sleeping with other men. Mr. Ybarra also voice messaged Ms. Olvera that he was receiving calls from unknown numbers that they were going to kill her and her daughter,” the affidavit states.
Investigators say Olvera asked Ybarra to record the call, which he did before sending it to her.
“While listening to the voice message recording investigators heard a female telling Mr. Ybarra that she was going to kill her and her family. Investigators recognized the female’s voice and identified her as Esmeralda Chapa,” the affidavit said.
A search of her phone showed that Ybarra had called Chapa the same day that Chapa left the voice message on his phone, according to police.
Both suspects remain in the Hidalgo County jail on $1 million bonds.
