SAN ANTONIO – Two men who said they witnessed the fatal shooting of a woman in April 2021 testified Tuesday in the trial of the man accused of killing her.
Andres Tarnava is on trial on a charge of murder in connection with the shooting death of Marisol Klingelhofer, a woman the defendant once dated.
Klingelhofer’s family reported her missing in May of 2021 after last seeing her in late April.
One of the people to last see Klingelhofer alive was Ruben Aguello, a friend of the victim.
According to Aguello, he and the victim were talking and drinking in a pickup truck when he noticed Tarnava come toward them with a gun. Aguello said he jumped out of the vehicle, but Klingelhofer didn’t.
“I saw him pull out something, looked like a gun, and shot her twice,” Aguello said. “I heard her say, ‘No, no.’ He shot her once and (I) heard her again and he shot her again and didn’t hear nothing.”
Another witness and friend of the victim who told a similar story was Carlos Hernandez.
Hernandez said that the defendant shot Klingelhofer three or four times. Hernandez also testified that Tarnava threatened him and Aguello not to say anything.
“He was scaring us not to say anything and we stayed silent. It’s a scary feeling, you don’t know what to do,” Hernandez said.
Klingelhofer’s remains were later found burned in barrels on Tarnava’s property.
Prosecutors plan to show a jury a confession the defendant made to Texas Rangers about the incident while he was being interrogated.
“You are going to have the rare opportunity to hear from this man who confesses, the reason he killed her,” prosecutor Raul Jordan told jurors. “He had been looking for her to teach her a lesson.”
Tarnava told the Rangers that he killed Klingelhofer because she allegedly stole some IDs that belonged to his late father.
Jordan said that the Rangers found two small bones that belonged to the victim, although the prosecutor admitted that no DNA was taken from the remains.
If Tarnava is found guilty, he could face a maximum punishment of life in prison.
The trial will resume at 9 a.m. Thursday.
KSAT 12 will be livestreaming the trial on KSAT Plus, KSAT.com and KSAT’s YouTube channel.
You can learn more about the case below.