In a tragic turn of events that has left a West Side San Antonio neighborhood in shock, 54-year-old Daniel Antonio Ordonez was found deceased, his body discovered inside a trash bag in a backyard shed. The grim discovery was made after a concerned out-of-town family member requested a welfare check, reporting they had been unable to reach Ordonez and that he had been in a heated argument with his son.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office later confirmed that Daniel Antonio Ordonez's death was a homicide caused by a gunshot wound to the head.
The investigation into Ordonez's disappearance initially led police to another property he owned, where they found his phone and keys buried in a potted plant and his vehicle with a bullet hole in the rear driver's side window. This evidence prompted a search of the home on Vera Cruz Street that he shared with his son and daughter-in-law. It was there, in a shed behind the main house, that officers found Ordonez's body in a large black trash bag that was leaking blood. Investigators also noted signs of a violent struggle and evidence that blood had been cleaned up both inside and outside the residence.
Following the discovery, Daniel Antonio Ordonez's son, 31-year-old Daniel Sebastian Ordonez, was arrested and charged with tampering with physical evidence by failing to report human remains. Surveillance footage from Walmart and Home Depot allegedly shows the younger Ordonez purchasing items such as gloves, a shovel, duct tape, a "mummy" style sleeping bag, and bags of cement, which investigators believe were intended to conceal the crime. His wife and the victim's daughter-in-law, 36-year-old Alyssa Herrera, was also arrested and is facing the same charge of tampering with physical evidence. While arrests have been made in connection with the concealment of the body, as of now, no one has been charged with the murder itself. The investigation remains ongoing as the community and family grapple with the "ugly" and "shameful" nature of the crime.
