CARRIZO SPRINGS, Texas – A migrant counselor at Carrizo Springs High School was found dead with stab wounds at a home in Asherton, Texas on Tuesday, the Dimmit County Sheriff's Office confirmed Wednesday.
Authorities said they were called to a home in the 100 block of School Street for a possible stabbing just before 11 p.m. and found Carlos Pena, 50, dead.
John Michael Alvarado, 18, is charged with murder in connection with Pena's death. He is being held in lieu of $75,000 bond.
Dimmit County Sheriff Marion Boyd said the 911 call came from Alvarado after the stabbing.
"He told the investigators, the dispatcher, that he would be waiting ... out in front of the home, and that’s where he was found, right where he said he was going to be," Boyd said.
Boyd said Alvarado stabbed Pena a number of times, resulting in Pena's death.
An official with the Texas Rangers said Alvarado may be a student at the high school where Pena worked.
Rangers said that Alvarado is cooperating with authorities.
Boyd said Alvarado said why he stabbed Pena, but the sheriff could not go into detail because of the ongoing investigation.
"It's a very sad situation for everybody," Boyd said.
Carrizo Springs Independent School District released a statement to KSAT that said, in part, that the district is mourning an employee.
Read the full statement:
Earlier today, Carrizo Springs CISD heard the news of the loss of a District employee.
Please keep the employee’s family and our students and staff in your thoughts and prayers as we all work to understand and deal with this incident. Carrizo Springs CISD will be working to provide grief counseling to our students and staff and ask that you pay particular attention to the needs of your loved ones at this difficult time. We are grateful to have wonderful staff and employees at the District, which handled the present situation immensely well. Further, we are so blessed to have an outpouring of support from area counselors that all have reached out to the District to lend a hand of comfort and care to our employees and students. If you believe that we at Carrizo Springs CISD can be of assistance to please contact us.
We will provide no additional information or comment at this time. Please respect the families and their privacy while they deal with the present situation."