By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A Del Rio man has been charged with murder in the shooting death of a 21-year-old man on a road north of the Del Rio city limits in October 2023.
Daniel Lopez, 50, had been in jail in Uvalde on a felony drug possession charge, but has now been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Jose “Joey” Burgi on Oct. 2, 2023.
Burgi was found shot to death in the early morning of Oct. 2, 2023, near the intersection of Las Brisas Boulevard and Sundance Kid Trail in the Sundance Estates area of the county north of Del Rio.
An investigation of the murder was conducted by the Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office.
In an affidavit obtained today by The 830 Times, VVSO Investigator Shaun Davis wrote he was sent to the scene of the murder at 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 2, 2023.
Davis wrote when he arrived, he met with sheriff’s office deputies and a U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) agent.
“USBP advised they received a call at 0126 hours (1:26 a.m.) from a male subject. . . advising of two suspicious male subjects walking westbound along the road near (a) residence on Las Brisas Boulevard. (The agent) advised he arrived at the intersection (of Las Brisas Boulevard and Sundance Kid Trail) at approximately 0159 hours (1:59 a.m.) and located the deceased male subject with apparent gunshot wounds. The deceased male subject would later be identified as Burgi, Jose Ricardo,” Davis wrote.
Davis wrote at the scene he recovered “five Remington shotgun shells along with two shotgun wads.” He noted the shells were marked with the designation “2¾-70MM, Reduced Recoil 00BK Remington, 8 Pellet.”
Davis noted Burgi was pronounced dead at the scene, and Burgi’s body was transported to the Webb County Medical Examiner’s Office in Laredo for an autopsy.
Davis then wrote about his subsequent investigation into the murder.
“Burgi’s Facebook account listed a dating relationship with a female subject later fully identified as Alondra Veronica Olivas. VVSO Investigator Mario Vargas conducted an interview with Olivas at VVSO (in which she) stated she had been dating Burgi for about a month. Olivas stated she last saw Burgi on Oct. 1, 2023 at approximately 2000 hours (8 p.m.) at her place of employment,” Davis wrote.
The investigator wrote Olivas said when she saw Burgi, he was with a friend, a man later identified as Lopez, whom she knew as “Danny.”
“Olivas also stated (she) and Burgi utilize a telephone application known as Life360, which is described as a family tracking application. Olivas explained Life360 is able to track and show routes bring driven connected to Burgi’s telephone,” Davis wrote.
He wrote Olivas then provided investigators with screenshots of the most recent tracking information and text messages from Burgi’s phone, which are listed in the affidavit as follows:
“- On Oct. 1, 2023, at 2204 hours (10:04 p.m.) Burgi messaged Olivas, ‘Imma be with Danny for a minute.’
– At 2305 hours (11:05 p.m.), Burgi messaged Olivas, ‘Babe I’m going to be home late.’
– On Oct. 2, 2023, at 0057 hours (12:57 a.m.), Olivas messaged Burgi, asking him where he was going.
– At 0100 hours (1 a.m.), Burgi’s last message to Olivas read, ‘Answer your phone.’
– At 0115 hours (1:15 a.m.) the Life 360 drive details end near the intersection of Las Brisas Boulevard and Sundance Kid Trail.
– At 0135 hours (1:35 a.m.), the next tracking, listed Burgi’s drive details beginning at 9801 Las Brisas Boulevard towards and northbound on Pike Road. A pin on the map showed beginning on Pike Road. The drive detailed the vehicle turning east onto U.S. Highway 90 West, U-turn to head west on U.S. Highway 90 West, past the Lake Amistad bridge, U-turn and going back onto the Lake Amistad bridge. The last tracking information shows the phone to be on the Lake Amistad bridge at 0153 hours (1:53 a.m.).”
Davis wrote, “Due to the time of the original call (to the USBP), the arrival of the USBP agent at the crime scene and the last tracking time, this second tracking information could not have been carried out by (Burgi).”
Davis wrote VVSO investigators then contacted Cielito Lindo Motel owner Lina Santos, who provided them with a receipt showing Lopez had rented a room there for the night of Oct. 1. The receipt also listed Lopez’s vehicle, a tan 2009 Chevrolet Silverado four-door pickup, including its plate number and vehicle registration number.
Davis said VVSO investigators further discovered the truck Lopez listed as his own is actually owned by his father, identified in the affidavit as Francisco E. Lopez Sr.
“The worker at Cielito Lindo Motel recalled seeing (Daniel) Lopez, a male subject matching the description of Burgi and a female together the night of Oct. 1, 2023,” Davis wrote.
Davis said a license plate reader on Dr. Fermin Calderon Boulevard near Bowie Street in south Del Rio detected the license plate on Lopez’s truck on Oct. 1 at 9:16 p.m., consistent with the timeframe mentioned by Olivas.
A USBP license plate reader detected the license plate on Lopez’s truck on Oct. 2 at 12:58 a.m. just west of Lake Amistad bridge. This location, Davis wrote, is consistent with the timeframe and location recorded by the Life360 app on Burgi’s cell phone.
He noted surveillance video recovered from cameras outside the Amistad National Recreation Area Visitor Center building at 10477 U.S. Highway 90 West, which face the intersection of the highway and Pike Road, showed a pickup truck matching the description of Lopez’s truck turning east onto the highway. Davis wrote that footage, too, is consistent with the drive details on Burgi’s phone.
Davis wrote on Oct. 2, a fellow investigator, Mario Vargas, “conducted a search of the Lake Amistad bridge and located a broken cell phone, along with pieces and parts which are believed to be from a shotgun.”
“The broken cell phone was confirmed to belong to Burgi via the IMEI (identification number) displayed and the one provided by the family,” Davis wrote.
Davis said while he was attending the autopsy of Burgi’s body, he found shotgun shell casings labeled “Law Enforcement Reduced Recoil” that had been recovered at the scene of the murder.
“Through USBP intelligence, it was found USBP were issued the same Remington shotgun shells for approximately 15 years, and they were not for sale to the public,” Davis wrote.
He noted on Oct. 3, Lopez was arrested for an out-of-county warrant.
“In Lopez’s possession at the time of his arrest were two Apple iPhones. One Apple iPhone was active and had a black case labeled “GO TO.” The second Apple iPhone was found to have a broken screen. At approximately 1206 hours (12:06 p.m.), (I) conducted an interview with Lopez at the VVSO CID interview room.
“Lopez confirmed his address (on Arroyo Drive) and identified his father as Francisco Escobedo Lopez Sr., as a retired USBP agent, who also lives there. (I) noticed scratches on the arms and legs of (Daniel) Lopez consistent with scratches that could come from bushes with thorns and thick brush surround(ing) the area of the crime scene,” Davis wrote.
Davis said he obtained a warrant to search the truck Lopez had been using. Davis said he also spoke with “a cooperating individual” who told Davis he had been with Lopez on Oct. 1 “and recalled seeing a shotgun in a ‘classic’ older-style vehicle underneath the carport (outside Lopez’s home).”
“The cooperating individual also was told by Lopez about ammunition being stolen from (Lopez’s father), which was located in a shed in the backyard,” Davis wrote.
Davis wrote he obtained a warrant to search the Lopez property on Oct. 6.
“A box containing 12 shotgun shells, labeled, ‘Law Enforcement Reduced Recoil 2¾-70MM, Reduced Recoil 00BK Remington, 8 Pellet’ was located in the rear seat of the ‘classic’ older-style vehicle underneath the carport. The vehicle was identified as an orange in color 1966 Ford Mustang registered to Francisco Lopez. Additionally in the shed in the backyard was a case of the same labeled shotgun shells. The shotgun shells found. . . were identical to the shotgun shells at the crime scene,” Davis wrote.
Davis wrote the “cooperating individual” also identified the woman who had been seen with Lopez and Burgi at the Cielito Lindo Motel, naming her as Maria Hernandez.
Davis said he interviewed Hernandez on Oct. 10, and she told him that Lopez picked her up near the Westlawn Cemetery on Oct. 1, then went to the motel and stayed there until 5:30 p.m., when Lopez told her he had to go to his father’s house “because someone had stolen from the storage unit in the backyard.”
“Hernandez stated once Lopez returned to the Cielito Lindo Motel, he asked her to drive him in his pickup truck to go pick up his friend in San Felipe. Hernandez said after picking up the friend, the three then went to Lopez’s friend’s girlfriend’s (Olivas’) place of employment. . . Hernandez stated (she), Lopez and the friend then returned to the Cielito Lindo Motel.
“Hernandez stated at the motel room, she felt the tension between Lopez and his friend and said Lopez was blaming the friend for stealing from (Lopez’s) father. Hernandez stated . . . Lopez and the friend left in Lopez’s truck, and she stayed at the motel room,” Davis wrote.
Davis wrote Hernandez said she left the room about 3 a.m. to walk to the Stripes convenience store. He wrote Hernandez told him when she returned to the room, Lopez was there alone and told her “they needed to leave the motel room because ‘somebody is watching us’.”
Davis wrote Hernandez, too, noticed the scratches on Lopez’s leg after he returned to the room. Davis also wrote Hernandez knew Lopez’s friend as “Furgi,” but was presented with a photo array and picked out Burgi’s photo, identifying him as Lopez’s friend.
In summary, Davis wrote, “Lopez committed the offense of . . . murder, a first-degree felony, by intentionally or knowingly causing the death of an individual, namely, Jose Burgi.”
Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez told The 830 Times today Lopez was served with the warrant for his arrest in Uvalde and as of this week is being held in the Val Verde Correctional Facility.
Justice of the Peace Pct. 3 Pat Cole magistrated Lopez on Thursday, setting a bail amount of $500,000 in the murder case.
Lopez was also arrested and charged with the offense of fraudulent use or possession or identifying information, a state jail felony, for allegedly using his deceased mother’s credit card to pay for a one-night stay in a local motel.
Cole set a bail amount of $10,000 in that case.
Lopez was also arrested on a charge of “state’s application to revoke community supervision possession of a controlled substance Penalty Group 1 Meth/ 1-4 grams,” a third-degree felony, for Cole denied bond.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
