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Update, 11:00 A.M.
The San Marcos Police Department have identified Esaia Morris, 21, as the suspect in the murder of 20 year-old Francisco Sierra.
Police said Morris admitted to shooting Sierra and throwing away the gun during police questioning. Morris later led police to the where he tossed the weapon. Police said Morris led them to 2301 Interstate 35 Frontage Road, the address of Morris' work, and pointed to the pond on the property he dumped the gun.
The Texas DPS dive team recovered the gun early Saturday morning.
Morris has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held on a $1 million bond in the Hays County Jail.
Francisco Sierra was celebrating his 20th birthday on Thursday. By 8:00 A.M. Friday, he was dead. Ironically, police said, the person who found him and called 9-1-1 is also the one responsible for his death.
It all started around 5:30 Friday morning at the Villagio Apartment Complex, on Aquarena Springs, just east of I-35, in San Marcos. A friend of Sierra called San Marcos Police to do a welfare check. Police said Sierra expressed concerns about his mental health and safety but after speaking with him, police said Sierra showed no signs of harming himself or others and released him into the care of a friend.
Less than an hour and a half later, a roommate found Sierra dead in his bedroom. Shot once in the head.
"Anytime we have a death, we don't want to make an assumption until we look at all the facts," Assistant Chief Bob Klett said, "and while we were looking at those facts, it became apparent that this was not a suicide."
Police said they interviewed three of his roommates, during which the man who called 9-1-1 confessed to the murder and to disposing of the gun.
"Sierra's roommate who originally called the police, was taken to the police department to be interviewed, as well as the other people who were present in the apartment complex." Klett said. "He later confessed to shooting and killing Sierra and throwing the gun away in a body of water in a remote location."
San Marcos Police did not release the motive or the location of the weapon but say the suspect has cooperated with them. The Texas D.P.S. dive teams spent most of the day searching for the weapon but as of Friday night, it was not found.
Police said alcohol could be one of the factors involved in the case. Sierra was celebrating his birthday the night before.
"It is one of the tragic factors of this death is that it was the night after his birthday that this happened."
Police said the suspect will be charged with first-degree murder but they won't release his name until he has been magistrated by a judge.