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A 48-year-old Edinburg man on Thursday pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter in the 2020 beating death of a 54-year-old man in McAllen.
Jose Luis Sanchez Jr., who was scheduled for jury selection on Monday, had originally been charged with murder for the Aug. 29, 2020 killing of Ricky Dowal Etheridge.
However, court records indicate he reached a plea deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to manslaughter before being sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Sanchez is charged along with 23-year-old Mission resident Daniel Barker and 40-year-old Pharr resident Gilbert Daniel Garren, who on Nov. 7, 2022, also pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Garren is being held in the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on a bench warrant while Barker remains held on a $1.5 million bond.
Barker has pleaded not guilty to murder.
Detectives are still looking for one more suspect, Rene Everrett Casas, who was 47 years old at the time of Etheridge’s murder.
Anyone with information about Casas’ whereabouts or the murder is asked to call McAllen Crime Stoppers at (956) 687-TIPS (8477). Tips can also be anonymously submitted through the smartphone app P3 TIPS. A cash reward may be available if information leads to an arrest.
In probable cause affidavits for the trio’s arrest, investigators said that Etheridge had been restrained, assaulted and killed two days prior to his body being found.
Those documents allege that the men killed Etheridge over the theft of narcotics.
His body was discovered after his then-girlfriend called police with a welfare concern.
“McAllen Police Detectives had received information from the victim’s girlfriend indicating that she had not heard from her boyfriend, Ricky Etheridge,” the affidavits stated. “The girlfriend said she received a phone call from a friend of Ricky’s who told her that Ricky may have been beaten and shot.”
The investigation led police to an apartment in the 1000 block of North 15th Street on Sept. 1, 2020 where police found Etheridge.
As the investigation unfolded, police said that Barker — the first to be arrested — confessed.
The affidavits said that both Garren and Sanchez initially tried to mislead police but later admitted to their roles in the assaults and were arrested.
All of the suspects have lengthy criminal histories.
