Capital murder trial for Abilene man begins in San Angelo

SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — The capital murder trial for an Abilene man accused of breaking into a San Angelo apartment and fatally shooting a person inside the residence began with jury selection on Dec. 13.

According to court records filed within Tom Green County, jury selection for the trial of Francisco Morales, 20, began at 9 a.m. in the 340th District Court of the Tom Green County Courthouse. Morales is charged with one count of capital murder by terroristic threat or other felony.

An indictment filed in relation to the case stated that Morales is accused of murdering Jacob Hernandez on May 26, 2021, by shooting him with a firearm while “in the course of committing or attempting to commit the offense of burglary of a habitation of … the owner of the habitation.” Morales was 17 at the time of the alleged offense.

Morales was arrested on June 17, 2021, in Abilene, Texas, and booked into the Taylor County Detention Center after a warrant for his arrest had been issued out of Tom Green County. Morales is one of four suspects arrested in relation to the case, two of whom are awaiting trial on capital murder charges and one of whom has already been sentenced to life in prison after taking a plea deal regarding a capital murder charge.

Court records indicate that the trial is expected to continue into the week of Dec. 16.

The affidavit

According to an affidavit filed in Tom Green County, law enforcement began conducting a homicide investigation at a residence of the Nueva Vista Apartments, located at 2401 N. Lillie St., on May 26, 2021, after San Angelo Police Department officers were called and dispatched to the area at 3:24 a.m.

An officer reported that, upon arriving at the scene, he observed “a firearm on the steps leading to the apartment,” “damage to the front door frame of the apartment and to the locking portion of the door,” a woman inside of the apartment and a man identified as Hernandez in the bedroom “laying on his back, not breathing, with apparent blood on his upper body, apparently deceased.” An autopsy conducted on Hernandez’s body revealed that he had been “killed by a gunshot wound to the chest.”

An investigator reviewed surveillance video for the Nueva Vista Apartments filmed “during the hours prior to the murder.” The investigator reported that a “dark colored four door sedan” was seen entering a parking lot adjacent to the apartment, after which two individuals “wearing garments and face coverings to conceal their identities” exited the vehicle and entered the breezeway of the residence.

Ring doorbell footage recorded by a camera at the residence showed one of the subjects to be “carrying and Adidas brand backpack black and white in color” and wearing a dark-colored hooded jacket with white stripes on the sleeve, torn blue jeans and black tennis shoes that had “white or reflective color on the heel.” An SAPD crime scene technician told the investigator who reviewed the footage that the backpack depicted in the Ring doorbell recording was left at the scene and collected as evidence.

Photographs taken of the backpack and its contents showed that a “pendant dogtag-style necklace” that had a “Hispanic female’s picture depicted on the tag” was contained in the backpack. After the Hispanic female’s picture was dispersed online through the SAPD’s Facebook page, an individual identified as the daughter of the pictured woman contacted the investigator and was subsequently interviewed.

During the interview, the daughter of the woman depicted in the photo stated that the pendant had been created and distributed to the pictured woman’s grandchildren on May 8, 2021. One such pendant recipient was a man who, according to an SAPD police report, had been arrested in San Angelo alongside Morales on Feb. 1, 2021, regarding a series of vehicle burglaries.

The man who had been arrested along with Morales for the vehicle burglaries was contacted and interviewed. The man stated that he and Morales “had exchanged property” and that the pendant was likely left in Morales’ backpack. He confirmed that Morales owned an Adidas backpack and confirmed that the suspect depicted in video recordings taken from the scene matched the height and build of Morales.

The investigator then interviewed a woman who reported that Morales had been at her residence on May 22, 2021, and May 23, 2021. She stated that Morales had shot out the window of her vehicle and taken the car without her consent, adding that she later learned that Morales had been arrested in Bronte, Texas, on May 23, 2021.

Body camera and in-car footage filmed by a deputy on May 23, 2021, regarding Morales’ arrest in Bronte was then reviewed by the investigator. The investigator observed that Morales was wearing jeans and shoes similar to one of the suspects depicted in the Ring doorbell footage.

The deputy who filmed the arrest told the investigator that a black-and-white Adidas backpack “was recovered with Morales during the incident.” He also said Morales “adamantly stated” that the backpack was his. After reviewing photos of the backpack taken by the deputy, the investigator observed that “its appearance is consistent” with the backpack found at the Nueva Vista Apartments scene.

The investigator learned from a lieutenant of the Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office that Morales was bonded out of the Tom Green County Detention Center on May 23, 2021, after being transported there and that Morales had a black-and-white Adidas backpack in his possession.

On June 10, 2021, the investigator interviewed Morales’ mother, who stated that she had seen Morales with an Adidas backpack and observed him to have worn a dark-colored hooded jacket with white stripes on the sleeve. She also said she had picked up Morales from the Tom Green County Detention Center on May 23, 2021, and transported him to Abilene.

That same day, the investigator and a detective applied for and were granted a search warrant for the residence Morales was known to stay at. During the course of the warrant’s execution, jeans matching the ones depicted in the Ring doorbell footage and a pair of black shoes with what appeared to be reflective material on their heels were located.

Footage of Morales’ arrest was once again reviewed following the conclusion of the search warrant. The detectives learned from the recording that the shoes depicted in the video, while initially appearing to be white on the heels, appeared to have actually been reflecting light from reflective material on their heels.

Detectives also spoke with Morales’ mother following the execution of the search warrant, learning that she had been attempting to contact Morales and that Morales had been using “an old phone that she had provided him” under a number that she then provided to law enforcement.

The investigator then obtained a search warrant for cellular tower histories “for the time and date that the suspects were observed using mobile cellular devices on the surveillance video from Nueva Vista.” Investigation into the data showed that a phone number confirmed to be associated with Morales had attached to an AT&T tower “in the vicinity of Nueva Vista 32 times” between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. on May 26, 2021.

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