Kriti Mehrotra
It was September 30, 2014, when a family’s entire world turned upside down as Jose “PeeWee” Luis Menchaca was horrifically killed in a 400 Block Hillwood Drive home in San Antonio, Texas. After all, as explored in Netflix’s ‘I Am a Killer: A Mother’s Choice,’ not only was his body discovered a week later, but it also came to light that this home was where a close cousin of his resided. In the end, thanks to eyewitness accounts as well as evidence recovered, two out of the three ultimately charged with his heinous murder were convicted and sentenced per their involvement.
Jose Menchaca Was Missing For a Week Before He Was Found Dismembered
Although Jose had some deep Mexican roots, he was raised near the heart of San Antonio, Texas, where he soon found himself becoming acquainted with members of the Texas Mexican Mafia. He reportedly never joined any gang himself, but he did end up getting heavily involved in drugs and was, thus, always in and out of trouble with the law – he even had a few stints behind bars. However, according to everyone who knew him, he was also kind, family-oriented, as well as a protective young man who genuinely tried turning over a new lead several times but just couldn’t.
Little did anybody know narcotics would actually be the reason Jose would lose his life following unparalleled torture on the evening of September 30, 2014, yet in a much different manner. According to reports, he had stepped into this North Side property in the hopes of scoring some drugs in exchange for stolen Mary Kay makeup products, only to be immediately jumped. He was subsequently beaten with aluminum bats for a few hours before being dragged to the backhouse, where he was strangled to death after a plastic bag was placed upon his head.
Over the next week, Jose was dismembered, and his limbs were burned in a barbecue grill – we specify limbs because officials found his remaining body in a dark plastic tub in the backhouse. His mother had long reported him missing, which led investigators to the fateful house in early October, where the smell of cleaning products as well as decaying flesh was simply undeniable. Therefore, of course, they probed further, just to find the 35-year-old’s plastic bag-wrapped, barely attached head plus torso in the tub, right along with his charred limb bones in the grill.
Jose Menchaca Was Killed As An Act of Revenge
Not long after Jose’s body was discovered and positively identified, three individuals were arrested for his brutal murder – Daniel Moreno Lopez, Gabriel Moreno, as well as Candie Dominguez. After all, the house was Daniel’s, the latter was his then live-in girlfriend plus the victim’s cousin, and eyewitnesses reportedly also placed Daniel’s cousin Gabriel at the scene as a perpetrator. According to several statements, the trio had premeditated the offense as revenge for a prior drug deal gone wrong, during which Jose had stabbed Texas Mexican Mafia’s ranked member, Daniel.
Candie has always maintained she had no hand in the actual murder, but she did admittedly help lure Jose so that her boyfriend and Gabriel could follow through with their plan without worries. She claimed she had no choice in the matter because she was scared of Daniel, especially after he threatened to bring serious harm or kill her as well as her six kids if she didn’t do his bidding. Therefore, as per her own accounts, she got into her car with Gabriel’s girlfriend, Sabrina Cavazos, on that fateful evening to find her cousin, all the while the two men remained on a call with them.
So, once Candie found Jose with his girlfriend, Sylvia Flores, she convinced them to come over for another drug deal, only for him to then be attacked with two aluminum bats within seconds. According to Sylvia’s statements, whose limbs were bound before she was locked into a washroom as the violence continued, it was Daniel and Gabriel who were armed, but Candie was dangerous too. That’s because she was held captive for five days until she found a way to flee and hence knew the mother of six had a significant role to play in the dismembering as well as burning of Jose’s body.
Jose Menchaca’s Murder Case Was Closed With Two Convictions
While Candie has denied directly being a part of her cousin Jose’s murder, she has conceded to luring him and tampering with the evidence after the fact so as to dispose of his remains. As for Daniel, he has consistently stated he had no hand in killing Jose despite several eyewitnesses, including the then-fiance of one of his as well as Gabriel’s cousin, stating otherwise. The fiance actually testified he had walked into the home in the midst of the torture and seen Jose going in and out of consciousness as he fought for his life, yet he didn’t intervene or call 911 in fear of retaliation.
In the end, Candie pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for her testimonies against Daniel and Gabriel, as a result of which she was sentenced to 30 years behind bars with eligibility for parole after 15 years in 2019. As for Daniel, he was found guilty of murder following an extensive jury trial as well as three hours of deliberations in June 2018, shortly following which he was handed down a life term with the possibility of parole after 30 years. Coming to Gabriel, he was acquitted of all the charges in 2018 following two different trials. His March appearance in court ended in a mistrial with a hung jury, whereas his December appearance concluded with the jury finding him not guilty.
Read More: Sylvia Flores: Where is Jose Menchaca’s Girlfriend Now?
