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A jury on Tuesday afternoon found a 47-year-old man not guilty of the murder of his uncle, a longtime Harlingen attorney who disappeared in 2017 and whose body wasn’t found until 2020 — on his nephew’s property.
Salomon Campos Jr. was found not guilty of capital murder following a weeks-long trial that started on Sept. 23, court records show.
He had been accused of killing Ernesto Gonzales.
The indictment alleged that Campos shot Gonzales while kidnapping him.
Police arrested Campos after Harlingen police and the Texas Rangers executed a search warrant at his property on Kansas City Road in La Feria on June 23, 2020.
At the time, police said they found human remains that were later positively identified with dental records as those of Gonzales.
The Harlingen attorney was first reported missing by his sister and Campos’ mother on July 18, 2017.
Gonzales had filed a request for a protective order against five of his extended family members on July 13, 2017 — days before he went missing.
He told authorities that he feared for his life, writing “I have had to carry an unloaded pistol in my truck hidden because I hear for my life,” a report stated.
A judge set a hearing over the temporary protective order on July 27, but Gonzales did not show up for it.
Gonzales’ disappearance followed the death of his mother.
Court records detail a lengthy trial with numerous witnesses taking the stand.
Those records say prosecutors and Campos’ defense attorneys — Ernesto Gamez Jr. and Erin E. Gamez — rested on Monday.
Following the jury’s verdict, Campos was released from court.
