Body found in hotel room believed to be missing woman, APD says

A woman's body was found Tuesday in a hotel room by Austin Police Department detectives, who say they believe to be a woman who has been missing since last week.

APD said in a tweet Tuesday afternoon that they had located a woman's body and believed it to be 40-year-old San Juana Macias, who was last seen on July 5 near the 1100 block of Clayton Lane in North Austin. 

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The Travis County Medical Examiner's Office is expected to perform an autopsy Wednesday to determine official cause of death.

In an APD release, an APD detective with the Missing Persons Unit was assigned to Macias’s case on Sunday, July 7 to investigate the circumstances around her disappearance. Macias’s ex-boyfriend, Jamie Jerome Wingwood had allegedly made comments to Macias’s family that led them to believe she was in imminent danger and that he was fleeing the state.

A nationwide BOLO was issued on Wingwood’s maroon 2008 Honda Accord, listing Macias as a missing and endangered person, says APD.

On Monday, July 8, Jefferson County officers engaged with the Accord in a pursuit that lasted over an hour and crossed into Orange County and Westlake, Louisiana. Wingwood, according to the release, collided with two law enforcement vehicles and caused a crash between a car and an 18-wheeler. The pursuit ended when Wingwood crashed his car.

Wingwood was taken into custody by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and transported to a local hospital for treatment.

APD detectives traveled to Louisiana to interview Wingwood July 9 and according to the release, information from Wingwood led homicide and missing persons detectives to the Roadway Inn in the 1600 block of E. US 290 where they found the body of a Hispanic female with obvious trauma, believed to be Macias.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 512-472-TIPS or text "Tip 103" + your message to CRIMES or use the new Crime Stoppers App or email APD Homicide at homicide.apd@austintexas.gov. Tips may be submitted anonymously and by downloading APD’s mobile app, Austin PD, free on iPhone and Android.