By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Testimony began Wednesday in the trial of Daniel Lopez in state district court here.
Lopez, 51, is on trial for the shooting death of Jose “Joey” Burgi, 21. Burgi was gunned down in the early morning of Oct. 2, 2023, near the intersection of Las Brisas Boulevard and Sundance Kid Trail north of Del Rio.
A jury made up of seven women and five men was seated on Tuesday, and District Attorney Suzanne West, who is presenting the state’s case, and Del Rio attorney Sostenes Mireles, who is representing Lopez, gave their opening statements on Wednesday.
After opening statements, 83rd Judicial District Judge Robert E. Cadena recognized West and asked her to call her first witness.
West called Raquel Burgi, Joey Burgi’s mother.
Raquel Burgi told the jury said she and her husband, Ron Burgi, adopted Joey and his two brothers after having three biological sons. She described Joey as “a good son,” a sensitive boy who always texted or called her at one minute after midnight on her birthday and on Mother’s Day so that he could be the first to wish her a happy day.
Raquel Burgi said she and her husband were in Montana visiting his parents when she learned about Joey’s death. She testified how a sheriff’s deputy called to FaceTime her and her husband, first confirming they were Joey’s parents, then asking if he had any tattoos.
When she confirmed to the deputy that Joey had his surname – Burgi – tattooed on his chest and her name inked on one of his arms, he told her, “I’m sorry to inform you, but your son has been murdered.”
Raquel Burgi testified about her reaction: “I left the phone with my husband and ran into the house, and I just lost it. I cried, and I screamed, and I threw pillows. I just lost it.”
On cross-examination by Mireles, Raquel Burgi admitted that in 2019, she and her husband had called Del Rio police to their home because Joey had broken a mirror, then tried to push her out of the way as he tried to leave the house.
Raquel Burgi also testified she did not know any of the people Joey hung around with and had not met his girlfriend. When Mireles asked Raquel Burgi if she was aware Joey had stolen from the school district and a local business, she replied, “I didn’t know he had done those things.”
West next called Alondra Olivas, the woman Burgi had been dating for several months before his death.
Olivas testified she met Burgi while working as a clerk in a convenience store at Garza Street and Dr. Fermin Calderon Boulevard in south Del Rio. Olivas testified she had seen Burgi take drugs, and she had taken drugs. She said she fell into a deep depression following the murder and began using more heavily, to the point where Child Protective Services opened a case, and she almost lost her daughter. Olivas testified she stopped using drugs and has been sober ever since.
Olivas testified Burgi installed an app called Life 360 on her phone so they could track each other’s movements. She spoke about the day prior to Burgi’s death, saying she was working and that Burgi and Lopez came into her store for drinks before 10 p.m. That was the last time she saw Burgi alive.
Olivas told the jury Burgi later texted her he would be home late, and she sent back an angry reply, then put her phone on airplane mode and went to bed. The next morning, Olivas said, she woke to a flurry of messages from friends asking questions and sharing rumors that something had happened to Burgi, but she wasn’t officially notified until a detective came to her house and picked her up to ask her questions on the afternoon of Oct. 2.
Asked how Burgi’s death made her feel, Olivas said, “It makes me feel angry, upset and sad.”
Under cross-examination by Mireles, Olivas gave additional testimony about her past drug use and confirmed she knew several of the other people in Burgi’s and Lopez’s orbit, including Rene Gracia and Ruben Hernandez. She also testified she had not given messages between herself and some of those other people to law enforcement officers investigating Burgi’s murder.
Also on Wednesday, jurors heard testimony from Lucas Garcia, a resident of Sundance Kid Trail, who called the U.S. Border Patrol about 1:20 a.m. on Oct. 2 when he was driving to his house and saw two men walking along Las Brisas Boulevard. Garcia testified he called Border Patrol because at the time the area was experiencing an influx of undocumented migrants.
West next called retired Border Patrol agent Daniel Villegas, who spoke about responding to Garcia’s call about the two suspicious men walking along Las Brisas Boulevard. Villegas said when he arrived in the area, he didn’t find two men walking, but saw “an individual laying in the road” near the intersection of Las Brisas and Sundance Kid Trail.
Villegas said at first he was afraid the scene might be an ambush and turned his emergency lights on and ascertained there was no one else in the area. He said he then thought the individual might have been the victim of a hit-and-run and called for an ambulance and for backup.
Villegas said he looked around and saw shotgun shells and “a lot of blood” around the body.
Villegas said he checked the prone man for a pulse, but couldn’t find one.
“I didn’t know if there was anything I could do for him; I just kept talking to him,” Villegas testified.
West next called Daniel Herrera, an emergency medical service (EMT) technician from Val Verde Regional Medical Center. Herrera said when he and his ambulance crew arrived at the scene of Burgi’s death, he observed “multiple gunshot wounds” on Burgi’s upper body and said when he checked Burgi for signs of life, he saw that rigor mortis had begun to set in and that “no treatment, no transport” would be necessary.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
