BEXAR COUNTY – Two men are in custody facing felony charges in a case that Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar described as a “heinous murder attempt.”
Uriah David Huffman, 24, and Darryl Christopher King, 36, are charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The victim, 24-year-old Joshua Sandoval, of New Braunfels, was found tied up, critically injured and naked on the side of an east Bexar County road on April 23.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Sandoval was found with his hands bound behind his back with zip ties and banding wire. His arms and legs were hogtied together with an electrical cord.
The court documents describe extensive injuries, including a gunshot wound to the head, two gunshot wounds to his arm, a stab wound to his chest and trauma to his head and face.
Sandoval required surgeries including a craniotomy. Doctors were initially unable to close his stab wound because his body was too swollen and a surgical attempt to save his eye was aborted because his blood pressure was unstable, court records show.
The affidavit states that Sandoval lives with his mother in New Braunfels. She told police that several days before the crime, he came home without his car — a 2012 Ford Focus. She called her other son to help locate it to bring it home. Sandoval’s brother said they found the car at a trailer park somewhere near Schertz. There was a man sleeping inside, but Sandoval’s brother made him get out and they brought the vehicle home.
When they returned with the vehicle, Sandoval’s mother said the victim told her, “you don’t know how much trouble you got me in for getting the car back.”
The affidavit also says the brother told police he believed Sandoval lent the car to someone for five days in exchange for drugs.
Sandoval told his mom that he needed to get some stuff from his room and then left the home again.
After Sandoval was discovered injured, investigators received a tip about a disturbance at the Shady Meadows Mobile Home Park off FM 78 in Cibolo and began conducting surveillance.
They interviewed a man who owned a mobile home where Huffman, King and Sandoval sometimes stayed. He told them that he returned home one day and found his living room “a mess.” After reading about Sandoval’s injuries on social media, the man said he asked his roommates what happened and Huffman told him that Sandoval assaulted him “but also did not go into details about what exactly occurred.”
During their surveillance, investigators witnessed King being dropped off nearby. When they talked to him, they found him to be in possession of a handgun, which is not legal because he is a convicted felon. He was taken into custody on that offense.
While King was being interviewed at the Cibolo police station, he told investigators that Sandoval hit Huffman in the face with a guitar. King said he left and went to stay with a neighbor but said Huffman later admitted to shooting Joshua four times. King refused to give any further details to investigators, the affidavit states.
On May 3, Huffman willingly went to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office for an interview where he admitted to being involved in the crime. He also said that Sandoval hit him in the face but said when he told King about it, that King pistol-whipped Sandoval in the face. He said they both tied Sandoval up with rope and zip ties and used a butcher knife to cut his clothing off.
Huffman told investigators that he and King carried Sandoval out of the home and put him in the trunk of Sandoval’s Ford Focus. They drove to Adkins and parked on the side of the road.
Huffman said King asked him if he wanted to shoot Joshua and when he said no, King shot Joshua several times as he knelt on the ground, the affidavit states. Huffman told investigators he and King drove back to Cibolo, where Huffman cleaned the home and the car. He later drove the vehicle about a mile away and left it.
Sandoval’s Ford Focus was found on April 25 by Cibolo police in the parking lot of a restaurant off FM 78. They found zip ties and banding wire inside the car similar to the ones used to bound the victim. There was also evidence of blood inside and outside of the car and in the trunk.
Both men are charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated kidnapping.
Huffman is being held in the Bexar County Jail on bonds totaling $200,000. King is being held in the Guadalupe County Jail on bonds totaling $175,000.
Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Facebook post from April 23:
Earlier this morning, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched for an injured male in the 11000 block of La...
Posted by Bexar County Sheriff's Office on Saturday, April 23, 2022
Watch Sheriff Salazar’s media briefing from April 23:
