By Karen Gleason
A 23-year-old Del Rio man wanted for questioning in the murder of a woman found in a local cemetery was taken into custody Sunday night as he attempted to leave town.
Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez told the 830 Times this morning Ernesto Olguin was arrested about 10 p.m. Sunday on a criminal charge unrelated to the murder.
“For lack of a better term, he appeared to be leaving town. We had set up surveillance on a residence, and as soon as it got dark, Mr. Olguin got into a vehicle with two other individuals and headed out on Highway 90 toward Brackettville,” Martinez said.
The sheriff said his deputies, working in conjunction the some of the VVSO’s federal law enforcement partners, stopped the vehicle as it was traveling east on Highway 90 near Laughlin Air Force Base and detained Olguin.
Martinez said Olguin was taken into custody without incident.
Olguin is wanted for questioning in the death of 27-year-old Sandra De La Cruz, a Del Rio resident whose body was discovered early Sunday on the grounds of the San Felipe Cemetery, an historic burial ground just south of the city limits off Brodbent Avenue.
Martinez said De La Cruz appeared to have died as the result of a gunshot wound, and her body was discovered lying facedown on one of the roads along the cemetery’s perimeter.
Martinez asked anyone with any information related to the incident to call the sheriff’s office.
“It doesn’t matter if they think it’s something small. This is still very much an active investigation, and we’d like to talk to anyone who has any information about what happened,” Martinez said.
