A 27-year-old Weslaco resident accused of killing a man last Friday allegedly stabbed him in the heart before setting him on fire.
Deputies arrested Jose Alfonso Lopez less than two hours after Weslaco firefighters found 21-year-old Edel Galvan’s partially burned body. They had responded to a grass fire on Mile 13 1/2 North, just east of Mile 4, in rural Weslaco at approximately 4:32 a.m.
A probable cause affidavit for his arrest said an investigator spotted Lopez walking in the vicinity of the crime scene.
At around 6:14 a.m. that day, as the investigation was ongoing, a man called deputies to report that a man he knew as “Ponchis” stabbed and burned his friend, according to the affidavit.
Law enforcement records revealed “Ponchis” to be Lopez and the man who made the report showed deputies where “Ponchis” lived.
The man also told investigators that he saw Lopez and Galvan fighting and “that he saw Jose Lopez stab Edel Galvan in the heart,” the affidavit stated.
The document does not disclose the witness’ status between the discovery of Galvan’s body at 4:32 a.m. and when he made the report at 6:14 a.m.
Authorities, however, had increased patrol in the area of the crime scene when a deputy saw a man walking northbound from Mile 13 and Mile 4 West and made contact with him.
“Inv. Olivarez asked for his name and he identified himself as Jose Muniz. Inv. Olivarez asked Jose if his last name was Munoz or Muniz to which Inv. Olivarez asked him to spell it out and he was mumbling and couldn’t spell out his last name,” the affidavit stated. “Inv. Olivarez advised Jose that he was going to step out of his unit to properly speak to him in which Jose ran northbound on the roadway then west into the brush.”
However, he didn’t get far and deputies placed him under arrest on charges of murder, a count of evading arrest and a count of failure to identify.
Lopez picked up another charge at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center.
Prior to making his first appearance, an inmate alerted jailers that Lopez had a lighter, which authorities found hidden in his underwear.
He is charged with prohibited item in a correctional facility.
Lopez remains jailed on a total of $1,015,000 in bonds, records show.
