Gun used in Friday's East Austin murder-suicide was stolen
AUSTIN, Texas - A small memorial, built in memory of Verneranda Martinez Gutierrez, is located in front of the Circle K at the corner of East Riverside and Montopolis.
"I never even knew her… I take time because I care,” said Sky Walker, who was cleaning up the site Monday morning.
Walker placed several rocks around the memorial as his way of showing respect.
"Let me do something else that somebody else may not do,” said Walker.
What Walker didn't know was what somebody did do. On Friday morning a man walked into the crime scene, checked the bodies, and stole the murder weapon.
Walker was shocked and upset by such a disrespectful act.
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Gutierrez was shot by her estranged husband as she sat in her car and in front of her 3 children. Her husband, identified as Florencio Barron, then killed himself.
The shooting was witnessed by two transient homeless men at the store. One of them, identified as Christopher Douglas Kempf, allegedly picked up the murder weapon and left the scene before police arrived. Video of the theft was captured by surveillance cameras and images were distributed to patrol officers.
A trespassing call Friday afternoon is how the gun was eventually found.
"It's kind of creating your own luck,” said Sgt. Eric De Los Santos with APD’s Homicide Unit.
That luck, according to De Los Santos, led them to JD’s Market, about a mile away from the murder scene. About 12 hours after the shooting, Kempf was there being detained on a trespassing complaint. He was about to be released with a citation, but the patrol officer recognized Kempf's clothing from the picture that had been sent out.
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"This is absolutely a team effort, every homicide that occurs in this city, is not the sole work of one or two people, it’s the work of 10, 15, 20 people sometimes, just depending on the complexity,” said De Los Santos.
According to court documents Kempf admitted he took the gun, a Glock 17 9 mm semiautomatic. Kempf told investigators that taking it "was stupid." and " he wasn't going to lie, he would have sold it." Investigators are now doing a trace on the gun. They are trying to determine if Gutierrez's husband legally purchased it or if he bought it off the streets.
The lesson about evidence and crime scenes is simple.
"Please leave it alone, because we use DNA quite a bit, we use fingerprints quite a bit, so leaving everything as pristine as possible is the number one concern for us. It could have messed up the case, it could have,” said De Los Santos.
Kempf has previous felony arrests. He is now charged with unlawful possession of a weapon and tampering with evidence.
As he awaits his first court appearance, the candles at the memorial to Gutierrez are expected to burn again Monday night. Walker said if no one comes to lights them, he will, in remembrance of a life that came to a terrible and tragic end.