SAN ANTONIO – A Bexar County jury on Thursday saw video of a murder defendant confess to killing a woman and saw up-close two barrels that he’s accused of using to burn her body.
Andres Tarnava is on trial for the fatal shooting of Marisol Klingelhofer, a woman he once dated.
A month after Klingelhofer was reported missing in the spring of 2021, Tarnava was detained as a person of interest in her disappearance.
While Tarnava was being interrogated by Texas Ranger Jesse Perez, he admitted to shooting Klingelhofer four times in the face and explained his motive for doing so.
Tarnava told Perez that he fatally shot Klingelhofer because he wanted her to pay for allegedly stealing his father’s military ID and Social Security card.
“You aren’t just going to take something from me and just let it go,” Tarnava said in the interrogation, which was shown to the jury.
The defendant said he threw the gun away and took Klingelhofer’s body to his property off Luckey Road in south Bexar County, where he burned her body.
“You burned her? When you burned her, did you have to do it in pieces? Did you cut her?” Perez asked Tarnava.
“I didn’t cut her up. Whole,” the defendant responded.
The jury was shown two barrels that were found on Tarnava’s property and pictures of small fragments of bones that were in the barrels.
When asked if he was remorseful for his actions, Tarnava said, “My dad was my world and I would do it again.”
The trial will resume Friday morning in the 226th District Court.
If he is found guilty, Tarnava faces a possible maximum punishment of life in prison.
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.