SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police on Tuesday charged R.C. Curtis, 31, with capital murder in the death of 75-year-old H-E-B worker, Paula Boyd.
Police believe Boyd may be Curtis' grandmother-in-law. Boyd was found dead in her North Side apartment on Oct. 21 after she didn't show up to work at the H-E-B where she was a customer favorite. She had died from blunt force trauma and strangulation.
There were no signs of forced entry.
"Well, the victim did know the suspect and probably felt comfortable opening the door for the suspect when he went in the house," SAPD Spokesman Officer Doug Greene said.
A capital murder warrant was issued on Tuesday and Curtis was arrested at his apartment on Evers Road by members of the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force.
Tuesday wasn't the first time he was arrested in connection with the case.
Curtis was captured on surveillance video Oct. 22 trying to use Boyd's cards at a gas station on Huebner Road. He was arrested in November and charged with credit/debit card abuse and fraudulent use of identifying information.
That's when police took DNA evidence from Curtis, which linked him to the scene, Greene said.
Since Boyd's purse was missing from the scene, Curtis is charged with capital murder.
"So that indicates that he was in the act of another crime, and during the act of that crime committed the murder of another human being," Greene said.
"This is a case that's caught the hearts of a lot of people here in San Antonio," Greene said. "If you learn about the ... just the heart of this woman, she touched everybody that she knew."
Police are still investigating the murder, but they believe at the moment that Curtis may have acted alone.
Two other men are suspected of fraudulently using Boyd's debit and credit cards, Greene said. One of them, Frank Hernandez Jr., 24, was also arrested in November. The other, David Rocha, 24, has an active warrant for his arrest.