The two victims were found in a “shallow grave” in south San Antonio after a drug deal turned violent in July 2023, authorities said.
SAN ANTONIO — Two and a half years after two people were found dumped in a grave in south San Antonio, a judge has sentenced one of the men arrested in the investigation to 40 years in prison.
Austyn Lee Harnett, 24, pleaded no contest to killing Jeremy Sanchez and Aaron Espinosa before receiving his sentence Wednesday by 186th District Court Judge Kristina Escalona. Hartnett was one of four men charged with capital murder as part of a yearlong investigation that started when law enforcement responded to the scene of a north-side shooting on July 20, 2023, only to find no evidence that gunfire had taken place.
The next day, police at the time said, family members of the two victims reported them missing, sparking a search. Authorities eventually found a rental car connected to the victims, inside of which was “a lot of blood.” Police scraped data from tracking devices on the car and eventually found the bodies of Sanchez and Espinosa a few days later in a wooded area off Mauermann Road near Mitchell Lake.
Come July 2024, and with the help of FBI, law enforcement identified two suspects already in jail for unrelated crimes while two others – including Harnett – were taken into custody. In a press release, the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office now says it’s believed the shooting “occurred during a drug deal, as Sanchez and Espinosa were allegedly involved in transporting and delivering large quantities of narcotics.”
Harnett was also charged with tampering with evidence in connection with the investigation.
“Violence of this magnitude cannot go unanswered, and today’s outcome reflects our commitment to holding those responsible fully accountable,” Bexar County DA Joe Gonzales said in a statement.
Two others charged with murder in connection to the investigation, 25-year-old Esteban X Flores and 21-year-old Bradlee Grinde, have been indicted, according to online court records. The DA’s office sent the case of the fourth suspect, 23-year-old Michael Jeremiah Treviño, back to the sheriff’s office investigation.