Guadalupe Contreras v. the State of Texas

CourtTexas Court of Appeals, 4th District (San Antonio)
DecidedJuly 1, 2026
Docket04-25-00107-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Guadalupe Contreras v. the State of Texas (Guadalupe Contreras v. the State of Texas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Court of Appeals, 4th District (San Antonio) primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Guadalupe Contreras v. the State of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

Fourth Court of Appeals San Antonio, Texas MEMORANDUM OPINION No. 04-25-00107-CR

Guadalupe CONTRERAS, Appellant

v.

The STATE of Texas, Appellee

From the 379th Judicial District Court, Bexar County, Texas Trial Court No. 2023CR4792 Honorable Ron Rangel, Judge Presiding

Opinion by: Rebeca C. Martinez, Chief Justice

Sitting: Rebeca C. Martinez, Chief Justice Adrian A. Spears II, Justice H. Todd McCray, Justice

Delivered and Filed: July 1, 2026

AFFIRMED

A jury convicted appellant, Guadalupe Contreras, of one count murder and one count

aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The trial court set aside aggravated assault with a deadly

weapon in accordance with double jeopardy-standards 1 and sentenced Contreras to seventy-five

years’ confinement for the murder of Elizabeth Contreras.

1 Contreras’s first trial, held in June 2023, resulted in a mistrial. 04-25-00107-CR

In three issues on appeal, Contreras contends (1) the trial court erred when it denied his

motion to suppress, (2) the evidence is insufficient to support his murder conviction, and (3) the

trial court erred by admitting evidence of statements he made under custodial interrogation prior

to being Mirandized. We affirm.

I. Background

Contreras married decedent, Elizabeth Contreras, in 2016. The marriage did not last long,

and they separated by the end of the year. Elizabeth returned to living with her first husband, Joe

David Munoz Jr., and Contreras resumed his relationship with Elizabeth’s stepsister, Alice Diaz.

Although Elizabeth and Contreras had separated, the two began seeing each other again in a secret

affair. Elizabeth had two cell phones, one of which was used to communicate with Contreras.

On the night of August 2, 2017, Elizabeth told Joe that she was going to work to pick up

her schedule. Elizabeth never returned home. Joe reported Elizabeth missing and began to search

for her.

On August 5, 2017, while Elizabeth was still deemed missing, Contreras and Alice agreed

to be interviewed by police to assist in the investigation of Elizabeth’s whereabouts. Police

transported Contreras and Alice from 331 Marbach to the police station in a patrol car. Before

Contreras’s interview started, he completed a SIS form with his personal information, including

his cell phone number. He told police the last time he had seen Elizabeth was the day before she

went missing, when they met at his work to discuss adding Elizabeth to his insurance. He told

police the last time he spoke to Elizabeth was on the day she went missing, and he did not know

where she was.

While Elizabeth was still deemed missing, Contreras told Elizabeth’s other sister, Jennifer

Sierra DeJesus, that he had not seen or spoken to Elizabeth “in a very long time.”

-2- 04-25-00107-CR

During Alice’s interview, she told police that she was in a relationship with Contreras, they

had two children, shared a bedroom and car, and she did not know about his relationship with

Elizabeth. She also said that the clothing Contreras wore to work on the day Elizabeth went

missing was still in their shared laundry hamper and had not been washed. Alice consented to a

search of the bedroom during her interview, and again after her interview at 331 Marbach by

signing a consent-to-search form. The clothing provided by Alice, identified as what Contreras

wore to work on the day Elizabeth went missing, tested positive for the possible presence of blood.

Elizabeth was not excluded as a contributor of DNA.

A few days later, Joe located the vehicle Elizabeth was driving when she went missing

(hereinafter, “the vehicle”). Joe reported finding the vehicle and consented to a search. Elizabeth’s

personal belongings and a piece of plastic shrink wrap were found inside, and apparent blood was

found throughout the vehicle. In the rear cargo area, crime scene investigators observed a blood

pattern that appeared to be an outline of a body in the fetal position. Elizabeth was not excluded

as a contributor of DNA. Contreras was excluded as a contributor of DNA.

On August 8, 2017, Elizabeth’s body was found in a wooded area, in a heavily decomposed

state, near the location where the vehicle was found. Branches appeared to be laying on top of her

body. The medical examiner conducted an autopsy and deemed the manner of death to be

homicide and the cause of death to be homicidal violence.

Location data emitted from Elizabeth’s cellphone and Contreras’s work truck shows that,

on the night Elizabeth went missing, at 11:04 p.m., Elizabeth and Contreras were close in

proximity near the dead end at Chive Drive. Investigators linked blood and hair fibers found on

the pavement at Chive Drive to Elizabeth. Contreras’s work truck stopped emitting data at 11:05

p.m. because it was turned off. There was no movement detected from 11:05 p.m. to 11:39 p.m.

-3- 04-25-00107-CR

Around 11:40 p.m., Elizabeth’s cellphone traveled away from Chive Drive to the wooded area

where her body was found; Contreras’s cellphone emitted data from that same area at 11:43 p.m.

From 11:52 p.m. to 11:55 p.m., Elizabeth’s cellphone moved toward the area where the vehicle

was found. From 11:55 p.m. to 12:10 a.m., Elizabeth’s cellphone moved from where the vehicle

was found toward Chive Drive. Around 12:11 a.m., Contreras’s work truck was turned back on

and began emitting data from Chive Drive. Contreras’s work truck and Elizabeth’s cellphone

traveled from Chive Drive to where Elizabeth’s phone and clothing were found; Contreras’s truck

was stationary in that location for approximately nine minutes.

Marvin Reyna, Contreras’s manager at Elliot Electric, recalled that Contreras once returned

from his lunch break “real mad” after arguing with his girlfriend about refusing to add her to his

insurance. Reyna testified about several events that occurred on the night Elizabeth went missing.

First, Contreras requested bubble wrap prior to going on his delivery route. Reyna found this to

be unusual because Contreras’s delivery did not include lights, and company policy allowed plastic

wrap to be issued only when a delivery included lights. Second, a surveillance photo captured

Contreras in the front lobby of the warehouse holding shrink wrap. Reyna testified there was no

reason for Contreras to be in the front lobby. Third, Contreras was limping when he returned from

his delivery route. Contreras told Reyna that he fell in the truck bed while removing shrink wrap

that was stuck to the truck and injured his knee as a result. Reyna found this to be odd because

Contreras did not deliver any palettes with shrink wrap that night. Reyna offered a workplace

injury report which Contreras declined. Fourth, Contreras’s work truck was monitored by GPS

data that showed he traveled off his assigned delivery route. When confronted, Contreras admitted

to breaking company policy by going off route.

-4- 04-25-00107-CR

After Contreras was arrested, police confronted Contreras with location data indicating that

he met Elizabeth at Chive Drive on the night she went missing. Contreras stated they “always”

met at Chive Drive and denied meeting her there that night.

II. Sufficiency of the Evidence

We begin with Contreras’s sufficiency challenge because we are obliged to address any

arguments that, if meritorious, would result in rendition of judgment. See Roberson v.

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