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The final suspect sought in a brutal beating death at a San Juan stash house is in custody.
The Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office said 35-year-old Mission resident Roberto Salas was arrested over the weekend. Jail records show he was booked into the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Sunday.
In a notice, the sheriff’s office said he was scheduled to make a first appearance in the courtroom at the jail on Monday afternoon.
He’s accused of murdering Juan Carlos Hernandez de Leon, who went missing on May 6.
Authorities have also charged Samuel Uvalle Jr., 47, of Mission, and Jesus Grijalva, 43, of San Juan, with murder.
While searching for the victim, investigators on May 15 developed information that a person known as “Joker,” later identified was Grijalva, used a tractor to bury something at 4610 E. Wisconsin Road in Edinburg, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The sheriff’s office executed a search warrant there and found the man’s body.
Witnesses told investigators that early on May 7 at around 4 a.m. Samuel Uvalle Sr. began arguing with Hernandez at a residence located at 1913 Morningset Road in San Juan.
“Samuel Uvalle (Sr.) started to assault Juan Carlos with a hammer,” the affidavit stated. “Roberto Salas and Jesus Grijalva joined Samuel Uvalle (Sr.) on the assault. Jesus Grijalva utilized a hammer tool to assault Juan Carlos.”
Once he died, the men put him in a barrel and buried him on the Edinburg property.
Samuel Uvalle Sr.’s son, Samuel Uvalle Jr., born in 2002, was also arrested as the investigation unfolded. He was convicted on Sept. 20 on human smuggling charges related to the San Juan stash house. He was arrested by the United States Marshal Service and sheriff’s deputies who were conducting surveillance at the residence during the homicide investigation.
Six people who were found to be in the country illegally who walked out of the stash house told investigators they heard a beating while they were at the residence and that Samuel Uvalle Sr. would threaten them, according to a federal criminal complaint.
A federal judge sentenced Samuel Uvalle Jr. to 1 1/2 years in prison while his father was sentenced to nearly three years in prison.
Samuel Uvalle Sr. is scheduled for arraignment on his murder indictment in state court on Oct. 30. It’s not immediately clear whether he is still in federal custody.
Grijalva pleaded not guilty to an indictment charging him with murder on Sept. 17 and remains held in the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on a total of $1,220,000 in bonds.
