After a chase southeast of College Station, law enforcement officers arrested a man accused of killing his girlfriend in Bastrop County, officials said Thursday.
Raul Anthony Caballero, 22, of College Station, has been charged with the murder of his girlfriend Sophia Vera, Bastrop County Sheriff Maurice Cooke said.
A passing man found her body with a gunshot wound to the face at 8:07 p.m. Dec. 30 along the road at FM 1704 in Bastrop County, according to a social media post from the sheriff’s office.
According to public records, Vera was 19 years old.
Caballero was driving Vera’s car when he was arrested Wednesday after crashing his car in Navasota, about 20 miles southeast of College Station, authorities said.
According to a social media post from the Bryan Police Department, the chase began around 1:07 pm Wednesday near Texas 6 and Harvey Mitchell Parkway in Bryan. The chase continued into South Texas 6 until Caballero crashed his car at the intersection of the highway and Robert Road in Navasota, the report said.
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When officers approached Caballero’s car, they found him on the driver’s side with a single gunshot wound to the head, the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office said. Cabellero remained in the hospital on Thursday with a life-threatening injury, officials said.
During the chase, he hit a Chevrolet SUV on Texas 6, police said, but the driver of the SUV was not injured.
Several agencies were also involved in the pursuit, including the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Brazos County Sheriff’s Office, and the College Station Police Department.
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The sheriff’s office was initially alerted to the case on Jan. 3, when the detective received a call from the College Station police saying that Vera’s parents were trying to file a missing person’s arrest warrant. According to the warrant, Vera lived in Elgin.
It said that the detective learned that Caballero was using Vera’s cell phone after Vera’s body was found. Vera’s parents told the detective that they last spoke to their daughter between 6:00 pm and 6:30 pm on December 30, when she left her home in Elgin in her car, the warrant says. They said they drove to Caballero’s College Station apartment to try and find her, but, according to the warrant, they couldn’t find her.
According to the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office, Vera lived in Elgin, but occasionally also lived in College Station with Caballero.
Caballero’s father told the detective that, according to the warrant, he dropped Caballero at a gas station in Elgin between 8 and 9 p.m. on December 30th. It said that Caballero got into the car with Vera at the gas station.
The detective also found that Vera worked at a home improvement store in Bastrop and spoke to a colleague who said he received a call from Vera’s cell phone at 9 p.m. Dec. 30, the warrant says. He said a colleague reported that “the line was silent for a period of time” before the call dropped.
The employee then said that he received a second call from Vera’s phone at 10:01 pm on December 30 and recognized Caballero’s voice on the phone, the warrant says. Caballero told a colleague, according to the warrant, that “he screwed up.”
The employee asked Caballero if Vera was okay, but Caballero did not allow the colleague to speak to her, as per warrant.
According to the document, the detective called Vera’s cell phone on January 3rd and Caballero answered. Caballero first said he gave Vera a ride to the Whataburger restaurant in Page on Dec. 31, the warrant says. It said that Caballero later changed his story, saying that he gave Vera a ride to the Azteca restaurant in Elgin on January 1st.
The detective also found out that Vera’s Facebook page was taken down on January 3rd in accordance with a warrant.
