By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A Jan. 20 trial date has been set in the case of a 51-year-old Del Rio man who allegedly shot and
killed a 21-year-old Del Rio man in October 2023.
District Attorney Suzanne West told The 830 Times Monday jury selection will begin on the
morning of Jan. 20 for the murder trial of Daniel Lopez, who is accused of gunning down Jose
“Joey” Burgi in the Sundance Estates area of the county north of Del Rio.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent discovered Burgi’s body at the intersection of Las Brisas Boulevard
and Sundance Kid Trail about 2 a.m. on Oct. 2, 2023. About half an hour earlier, a man had
called the Border Patrol “advising of two suspicious male subjects walking westbound along Las
Brisas Boulevard.”
When the Border Patrol agent went to the area to check out the call about the two men walking,
21-year-old Jose “Jose” Burgi on Oct. 2, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Val Verde County
Sheriff’s Office)
he discovered Burgi’s body. A later autopsy showed Burgi had died after being shot four times
with a shotgun.
After the Border Patrol agent discovered Burgi’s body, he notified the Val Verde County Sheriff’s
Office. Then-VVSO Investigator Shaun Davis began looking into the case.
Davis’ findings are detailed in a criminal complaint on file in the case (see The 830 Times story
“Del Rio man charged with murder in 2023 shooting death” here).
Using Burgi’s posts on social media, Davis found Burgi’s girlfriend, who told him that she and
Burgi used the phone app, Life360, so that each could keep track of the other’s movements and
whereabouts.
The tracking information provided by Burgi’s girlfriend led investigators to Del Rio’s Cielito
Lindo motel, where motel personnel provided the sheriff’s office with Lopez’s name as the
person who had leased a room there.
Shotgun shell casings found at the scene of the murder were the same type of shells found at the
home of Lopez’s father. The shells were of a type not for sale to the public, but were the same
type of shells that had been issued to U.S. Border Patrol agents. Lopez’s father is a retired Border
Patrol agent.
Lopez was in jail in Uvalde County on a felony drug charge when he was served with the
warrant charging him with Burgi’s murder.
West said Lopez will be represented by Del Rio attorney Sostenes Mireles.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
