Investigators used store video, forensic testing and cellphone evidence before Juan Manuel Yanez received life in prison.
SAN MARCOS, Texas — Four beers found cold inside a San Marcos apartment became part of the evidence that helped prosecutors trace when Juan Manuel Yanez shot Victoria Valadez and why a judge later sentenced him to life in prison.
The detail stood out in a murder case that began with a short 911 call and ended in a guilty plea. Hays County prosecutors said the beers, surveillance video, blood evidence and a removed cellphone SIM card showed what Yanez did before and after Valadez was found dead Feb. 7, 2025. Yanez, 49, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced May 14. Valadez was 43.
Prosecutors said the store video helped place Yanez in a narrow window around the killing. About 20 minutes before he called 911, video from a 7-Eleven near the River Road apartment showed him arriving in Valadez’s truck, buying four beers and driving back toward the apartment. Officers later found the beers at the crime scene. Two were open. All four were still cold to the touch. Investigators concluded the shooting had already happened before Yanez went to the store. That sequence became one of the plainest parts of the case presented at the punishment hearing before Hays County District Judge Joe Pool.
The 911 call came from Yanez on Feb. 7, 2025. He told the operator he had just shot his wife, but authorities said he and Valadez were not legally married. They had been romantically involved for several months. Yanez did not give dispatchers an address. Dispatchers traced the call to a unit on River Road, and San Marcos police officers responded to the apartment. They found Valadez dead from a gunshot wound to the head. Investigators reported no signs of a struggle. Prosecutors said the evidence supported the conclusion that Valadez may have been asleep when she was killed.
The physical evidence inside the apartment tied Yanez to Valadez and to the shooting, prosecutors said. His wallet was on the victim’s nightstand. Forensic testing later confirmed Valadez’s blood on clothing and jewelry collected from Yanez. Testing also found gunshot residue. The murder weapon was not found, and officials said Yanez disposed of it after the shooting. That missing gun left one piece of the case unrecovered, but prosecutors said the rest of the evidence was strong enough to support the murder charge and the sentence. Investigators also said extensive digital forensic work did not reveal a motive.
The phone evidence became another marker of what authorities said Yanez did after the shooting. When officers recovered his cellphone, they found the SIM card had been physically removed before police collected it. Prosecutors said that act showed an effort to block attempts to track him as he left San Marcos. After the 911 call, Yanez drove more than 150 miles to Houston. Authorities said he had a separate residence there and lived with another family. Harris County authorities arrested him near his Houston home after a brief manhunt. The arrest ended the flight, but the reason for the killing remained unknown.
The court phase moved quickly in May 2026. Yanez entered a guilty plea on May 6 and agreed to let Judge Pool decide punishment. On May 14, Pool imposed life in prison, the maximum punishment available under the law. Hays County officials said Yanez will not be eligible for parole until he has served at least 30 years. Assistant Criminal District Attorney Jon English said the sentence reflected the truth of what happened in the apartment. “Justice required a sentence equal to the gravity of that crime,” English said. The state’s case was prosecuted by English and Assistant Criminal District Attorney Abigail Whitaker.
The investigation was led by San Marcos police detectives Logan Murphy and Chris Marroquin, with help from multiple officers. The prosecution team also included members of the district attorney’s Family Justice Unit and the 428th District Court prosecution team. Victim Assistance Coordinator Annalise Brewer-Hall, digital media evidence legal assistants Kendall Evans and Mercedes Pena, Legal Assistant Avery Slocum and investigators Sgt. Erica Saenz and Sgt. David Cabrera were also listed by the district attorney’s office as part of the work behind the case. Prosecutors credited that combined work with turning a confusing call and a missing weapon into a completed prosecution.
Whitaker said the hearing also showed the harm to Valadez’s family. She said relatives had endured the case with courage and made sure the court understood the full cost of the killing. Her statement came after the court heard the evidence and imposed the life sentence. The district attorney’s office said the sentence marked the close of the trial-level prosecution. Still, the record leaves some facts unknown. Investigators did not recover the gun. They did not identify a motive. They did, however, present a timeline that began in an apartment, moved through a convenience store and ended with an arrest near a Houston home.
Yanez is serving a life sentence for murder. The case now stands as a closed prosecution, with parole eligibility decades away and any later legal challenge left to the post-conviction process.
Author note: Last updated Tuesday, June 16, 2026.