Police say evidence, witness accounts and a later confession tied the suspect to a fatal shooting inside a Donaldson Avenue home.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — A 21-year-old man has been charged with murder after San Antonio police said he shot and killed a 44-year-old woman inside a Northwest Side home earlier this week, turning what began as a welfare check into a homicide case.
Aaron Arocha was charged in the death of Sheri Tolosa after investigators said he was the last known person with her inside the home in the 1000 block of Donaldson Avenue. The case drew added attention after police said relatives told detectives Arocha claimed Santa Muerte had told him to carry out the shooting. Court and jail records show he was booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center, his bond was set at $500,000, and he is expected back in court on July 14.
According to investigators, the case started Monday when relatives contacted police about a possible shooting inside the home. A family member who was out of town told officers that another relative had reported someone may have been shot there and that Arocha could have been involved. Officers first responded but did not see signs that justified forcing their way in, according to the arrest affidavit. Just after 12:30 p.m., police were asked to return because relatives could not reach either Arocha or Tolosa. When officers entered the house, they found Tolosa in the kitchen with multiple gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said five shell casings were found in the home, including in the dining room, and investigators believed Tolosa had been moving away from the gunfire toward the kitchen and back door while still holding a bag of food.
Investigators said the early evidence suggested the shooting happened inside a home where Arocha had permission to be. Messages reviewed by police indicated he had been there to work on a refrigerator, and officers reported no signs of forced entry. Detectives also said a video sent from inside the home became part of the case. In that video, according to the affidavit, Arocha showed what appeared to be a bruise on his knee and blamed Tolosa for it. Police said he later called a family member, said he loved them, apologized and then hung up. Officers used license plate reader data to track his vehicle to the Houston area and later back toward San Antonio. He was detained Tuesday while driving the same vehicle. During an interview, police said, he repeatedly answered that he “did not know” when asked about Tolosa’s death.
The case grew stronger, investigators said, after police searched Arocha’s vehicle and interviewed relatives who described what they said he told them after the shooting. Officers said they found a box of .380-caliber ammunition in the center console and that the caliber and brand matched shell casings recovered at the house. Several rounds were missing from the box, according to court records. A second relative told investigators he met Arocha at about 6:30 p.m. Monday after receiving a call from him. During that conversation, the relative said, Arocha admitted shooting Tolosa and said Santa Muerte had made him do it. The same relative told detectives that Arocha said Tolosa had done nothing to deserve being shot. Police also said some details in that account, including that Tolosa had been shot in the face, were not public at the time.
Police have not publicly described a clear motive beyond the statements attributed to Arocha and the video mentioned in the affidavit. They have said only that the investigation points to a targeted killing inside the house rather than a break-in or random attack. Reports indicate Tolosa was found near the back door, and detectives concluded she appeared to be trying to escape when the shots continued from the dining room into the kitchen. The references to Santa Muerte added a striking detail to the case, though investigators have not said whether religion or folk belief will play any formal role in the prosecution. What they have emphasized instead is the physical evidence, the route of the victim through the home, the shell casings, the ammunition recovered from the vehicle and the statements from family members who said Arocha described the shooting afterward.
Neighbors were left trying to absorb what happened at a home that, until police tape went up, looked like any other house on a residential stretch of the Northwest Side. Jason Vasquez, a nearby resident, said the violence rattled families in the area and raised fears about safety for children and neighbors. The scene itself painted a stark picture for investigators: a woman dead in her kitchen, evidence of movement through the house and a timeline that began with anxious phone calls from relatives and ended with a murder charge. By late Thursday, the case had shifted from a suspicious welfare check to a prosecution built around witness statements, digital evidence and a search warrant return from the suspect’s vehicle.
As of Friday, Arocha remained jailed in Bexar County on the murder charge, with bond set at $500,000. The next major public milestone in the case is his scheduled court appearance on July 14.
Author note: Last updated April 18, 2026.