Guadalupe Contreras, accused of killing Elizabeth Contreras in 2017, entered a not guilty plea at the start of his retrial. Prosecutors presented evidence suggesting Contreras killed his estranged wife and disposed of her body. The case was previously declared a mistrial due to the destruction of key evidence.
A man accused of murdering his estranged wife in 2017 pleaded not guilty again during the start of his retrial. Guadalupe Contreras, 47, is charged with killing Elizabeth Contreras, 39, around August 2, 2017. He was arrested three days after San Antonio police found Elizabeth Contreras' decomposing body on August 8, 2017, on the 12800 block of Interstate 37 North, also known as Old Corpus Christi Road.
During opening statements, prosecutor Kristen Mulliner stated that Guadalupe Contreras met with Elizabeth Contreras on the night of August 2, 2017, and killed her before disposing of her clothes and body. Prosecutors allege that Guadalupe Contreras, who was a delivery driver, used a GPS-equipped company vehicle, allowing authorities to place him near the crime scene. His manager also testified that Guadalupe Contreras deviated from his route on the night of the murder. Additionally, the manager stated that Guadalupe Contreras appeared disheveled and had a leg injury on that night. Phone records from Elizabeth Contreras' phone revealed that she and Guadalupe Contreras had been in contact on August 2, although Guadalupe Contreras had told police he hadn't spoken to her, according to an affidavit. '(Guadalupe Contreras) has lied every step of the way to (Elizabeth's) family and police,' Mulliner said. Police discovered Elizabeth Contreras' vehicle parked along Interstate 37 South. Along with her purse, they found blood on the driver's side door panel, the steering wheel, and the sun visor. Blood was also found in the cargo area of the car, according to an arrest affidavit for Guadalupe Contreras. Testimony presented both on Thursday and during the 2023 trial established that Elizabeth Contreras married Joe David Muñoz, Jr., in 2008, had a daughter in 2010, and divorced in 2011. In 2016, she married Guadalupe Contreras, but they separated that same year, and she moved back in with Muñoz and their daughter. 'We were getting closer and thinking about getting back together,' Joe David Muñoz, Jr., testified. Muñoz testified that Elizabeth Contreras used separate phones to communicate with both men. He stated that he and Elizabeth Contreras frequently argued about her relationship with Guadalupe Contreras. On the night she disappeared, Elizabeth Contreras told Muñoz she needed to visit her Mission Trail Baptist Hospital job to check her schedule. She then left in his blue 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe. Muñoz stated he suspected Elizabeth Contreras was leaving to meet with Guadalupe Contreras. “I was wondering why she couldn't call to get her work schedule,' Muñoz said. When defense attorney Charles Bunk asked if he believed Elizabeth Contreras was 'hooking up' with Guadalupe Contreras, he replied yes. Prosecutors asserted that Elizabeth Contreras was facing some health issues and had requested Guadalupe Contreras to add her to his work health insurance plan, which he was not in favor of. Guadalupe Contreras' manager testified that he remembered Guadalupe Contreras being angry about Elizabeth Contreras requesting to be on the insurance. When asked why he was angry, Guadalupe Contreras said it was because Elizabeth Contreras wasn't his wife. Elizabeth Contreras' sister, Jennifer Sierra DeJesus, expressed disappointment upon learning that her sister was seeing Guadalupe Contreras again. 'I didn't like (Guadalupe) at all,' DeJesus said. “There was nothing about him that I thought was good for (Elizabeth).' A sergeant who responded to the scene where Elizabeth Contreras' body was found said he initially thought her body was that of a missing person. He said there were several vultures around the area where she was located. During the 2023 trial, Judge Ron Rangel declared a mistrial as both sides were about to enter closing arguments. It was discovered that video and aerial photographs of the crime scene had been purged from SAPD’s record-keeping system after police assigned the wrong case number to Elizabeth's death. During that trial, prosecutor Lauren Scott informed Rangel that the evidence was purged because SAPD officers initially investigated the case as “an apparent sudden death” instead of a murder, and the evidence was not preserved in the system. Charles Bunk, Guadalupe's defense attorney, argued that because the photos and videos were 'destroyed,' he was unable to use them to determine if Elizabeth Contreras' body had been moved. Rangel granted the mistrial without prejudice, permitting the case to be retried in the future
Murder Retrial Evidence Destruction Crime Scene GPS Tracking Estranged Wife Delivery Driver
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