SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio woman was indicted Tuesday by a Bexar County grand jury for trying to hire a hitman to kill a woman and her husband.
Ruth Comer, 64, is charged with two counts of solicitation of capital murder. According to court documents, Comer solicited Charles Grube, a carnival worker, to kill Kristina Moore and her husband, Jacob Thomas.
Comer was first arrested for the crime in August 2013, though Bexar County District Clerk Donna Kay McKinney said the case was dismissed for further investigation in April 2014.
Her original arrest documents indicate a link to the still-unsolved January 2012 murder of Comer's boyfriend, Jerry Collins, in which police said Comer and Moore were both suspects. Collins's son, Jim, said Comer's indictment in the alleged murder-for-hire plot was "a long time coming."
"Part of this ties into my father's murder," Jim Collins said. "So we're just looking forward to getting some sort of indictment and some sort of reprieve from all of this - whole situation."
Tuesday's indictment paperwork was short on details, but the original arrest affidavit from 2013 fleshed out the alleged murder-for-hire plan and the connection to the grisly death of Jerry Collins, who was found dead in his mobile home in the 800 block of Corrine Drive on Jan. 28, 2012.
Comer stood to gain a lot of money through Collins's will, police wrote in the 2013 affidavit, and Moore reportedly told a witness that Comer had given her $10,000 to pay someone to kill Collins.
Police did not name the suspected killer in the paperwork, citing an active murder investigation.
According to the affidavit, Comer approached Grube, a carnival worker, about killing Moore sometime around April 2013.
Comer gave Grube a handgun and told him, "I want Kristina gone, and if you have to, kill Jacob," the arrest affidavit said.
When Grube asked about what Comer was offering him, she told him, "When I get my money, anything you want," according to the affidavit.
Grube later gave the handgun, a .32 caliber revolver, to police and offered to record his next conversation with Comer.
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In an Aug. 16, 2013, meeting at Grube's home that was recorded by police, Comer gave Grube directions to the trailer park Moore was living in as well as the description and location of her trailer, according to the affidavit. She also gave Grube a description of Moore's vehicle.
According to the affidavit, Comer also asked Grube if he was a cop, to which he responded: "I'm no cop, I am a Bandito."
Comer's first arrest came shortly after, with police accusing her of criminal solicitation to commit murder against Kristina Moore. Now, more than four years later, Comer has been indicted.
However, Jim Collins said his father's case remains open, for which he believes Comer is still a suspect.
"That's the case we'd really like to see move forward, but we'll take this one," he said.
Collins said the family is still offering a reward of up to $40,000 for information on his murder. You can provide that information through Crime Stoppers at 210-224-7867.