Eric Perez and Matthew Espinoza are facing charges in connection to the stolen car, but police have not said if they had a role in the deadly crash.
SAN ANTONIO — Police say the stolen Camaro involved in the crash that killed five people has now been linked to two arrests and a spree of other crimes.
Sunday morning, we combed through multiple arrest warrants outlining new details in the investigation.
Here’s what we’ve learned.
According to an arrest affidavit, the 2018 white Chevy Camaro was stolen from a Converse home on July 14.
The next day police said 21-year-old Eric Perez and 18-year-old Matthew Espinoza were caught on surveillance cameras outside a restaurant near South Park Mall. According to police documents, Perez was driving the same stolen white 2018 Chevy Camaro when he pulls up beside a Ford 150 in the parking lot.
Police said Perez then goes on to break into the truck, and then is captured on video running away from the truck with a handbag, and jumps into the driver’s seat of the Camaro and takes off.
Espinoza was reportedly in the Camaro during the truck burglary, acting as a lookout.
The truck’s owner later told investigators a Gucci purse, money, bank cards, and an identification card was stolen, according to police documents.
The Camaro was next spotted on a Flock Camera a short time later at a nearby Lowe’s, where Perez and Espinoza are again caught on surveillance cameras inside the store, police said.
Juvenile probation officers were later able to identify both suspects based on that surveillance video.
Then two days later, police said the same white Chevy Camaro was involved in a devastating crash off I-35 and Cassin Road.
Police said the driver of the Camaro slammed into a bus hauling a trailer, causing it to lose control and crash into an 18-wheeler. Five people on board the bus died, including the driver.
Witnesses told officers an unknown number of people bailed out of the Camaro right after the crash, and fled the scene.
An intense search of the area in the moments after the crash came up empty.
According to an arrest warrant, detectives searched the Camaro on the scene of the fatal crash, and made a startling discovery: on the top of the center console of the Camaro, investigators found a wallet, bank cards, and an identification card.
The name on the stolen items matched the name of the victim who reported his Ford 150 was broken into days before in that restaurant parking lot near South Park Mall.
Perez is being charged with Burglary of a Vehicle and Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle, in addition to outstanding warrants from previous incidents.
Espinoza has been charged with Burglary of a Vehicle.
The charges are listed under the same case number as the IH35 deadly crash, but neither Perez nor Espinoza has been directly implicated as being in the Camaro on June 17 and causing the deadly crash.
It’s unclear right now if San Antonio Police will be pursuing additional charges in connection to the crash.
Bexar County deputies have not yet confirmed the two suspects caught on home surveillance video stealing the Camaro on July 14th are Perez and Espinoza, and if BCSO is pursuing charges for the vehicle theft.