Third suspect arrested in 2024 East Austin murder

AUSTIN, Texas - A third person has been arrested in connection with the murder of a man in East Austin in 2024.

24-year-old Benigno Rodriguez has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Matthew Escalante and has been in the Travis County Jail since May 8.

Bond has been set at $250,000, and he has a court date set for May 29.

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Rodriguez is the third person implicated in Escalante's murder.

23-year-old Rudy Zamora is serving 22 years for first-degree murder. He pleaded guilty on April 29.

21-year-old Elijah Rivera has been in the Travis County Jail since April 29 and is facing a first-degree murder charge. He has a court date set for May 28.

A year-and-a-half long investigation through social media, ballistics

Timeline:

Court paperwork details the year-and-a-half long investigation that led detectives to Rodriguez, Zamora and Rivera.

On the afternoon of Nov. 7, 2024, officers responded to a shooting in the 2600 block of Rosewood Avenue, between Bedford Street and Webberville Road, near Oak Springs Elementary and Eastside Early College High School.

The victim, identified as Escalante, was taken to Dell Seton, but died from his injuries the next day.

His girlfriend told police that Escalante was supposed to be meeting with someone named "Rudi," but that Rudi kept changing the meeting place. The girlfriend said that Escalante had gotten out of the car while on the phone with Rudi and not long after that, she heard several gunshots. 

She then said she got out of the car and found Escalante with a gunshot wound.

Witness reports

Multiple witnesses reported hearing gunshots and saw three men fleeing on foot, describing them as:

• A white or Hispanic male in a green zippered hoodie, dark long shorts, and black shoes
• A white or Hispanic male in a black hoodie, a red face cover, dark pants and red shoes
• A white or Hispanic male in a gray hoodie, dark pants and black shoes

Police recovered surveillance footage corroborating the witnesses' reports and several spent cartridges not far from where Escalante was found.

Another witness three blocks away also reported seeing the three men come out of the bushes and fleeing the area. This same witness told police that they believed the three had walked from Eastside ECHS. 

Police went to the school and found footage of the men showing them walking from the scene of the shooting and the man in the green zippered hoodie pulling a handgun from his jacket.

The video also showed the man in the green hoodie was wearing Crocs with multiple brightly-colored shoe charms.

Social media, phone searches

A search through a law enforcement database led police to Zamora, who appeared to match the description of one of the men seen by witnesses and on surveillance video. A social media search of Matthew's Facebook friends also uncovered a tie to Zamora.

Police found he had an active warrant for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and that during that investigation, Zamora's cell phone had been seized, and a search warrant had been obtained.

His phone had multiple photos of Zamora himself, including one showing him wearing black Crocs with multiple brightly-colored shoe charms. That led to detectives pursuing an arrest warrant for Zamora.

Zamora was arrested by US Marshals for murder on Nov. 20, 2024.

Zamora had another cell phone seized from him in which a search warrant uncovered evidence of an Instagram group message from the day of the murder, including the name "Ben."

Zamora's Instagram account was searched as well, and detectives found photos of him the night before the murder at a party. One of the other suspects, the one with the red shoes, was also seen in the photos and police found DMs from another Instagram user inviting him to the party.

That user was revealed to be Rodriguez; police compared a previous booking photo of him to the surveillance footage and determined him to be the man in the red shoes, court paperwork says.

Ballistics show two guns

In April 2025, ballistics confirmed more than one firearm was used during the murder. 

One of them was identified as a Glock 43 that had been recovered after an aggravated robbery that happened almost two weeks after the murder.

Finding Rivera

In March, police got a search warrant for Rodriguez's Instagram account and found messages with another user attempting to purchase a Glock from him two weeks before the murder.

The user later shared with Rodriguez that he had purchased a Glock 48 instead.

Police also found messages in Rodriguez's account that indicated Rodriguez and Zamora were together about two hours before the murder, planning to go eat then pick up the other suspect.

A search warrant for the third Instagram account led police to Rivera and messages from him to multiple people trying to sell a Glock 43 and later a photo post of him holding a rifle.

Police also looked into an aggravated robbery from Nov. 19, 2024, where a man was pistol whipped while suspects broke into his motel room and stole some cash from him.

One of the suspects identified and arrested by police in the robbery pointed detectives to Rivera. Two firearms were also recovered, one of them being the Glock 43.

Police also learned Rivera had been wearing an ankle monitor at the time of the robbery, so they requested his location information for Nov. 7 2024. That location data showed Rivera was on scene at the time of the murder.

On April 29, Rivera was taken into custody by US Marshals and confirmed in an interview with detectives that he was there, but did not shoot anyone. He said that Zamora and Rodriguez told him they would be robbing someone and that he had given his Glock 48 to Zamora who didn't have a gun.

He also told police that Rodriguez and Zamora ditched the guns and fled, but Rivera went back and could only find Rodriguez's Glock 43. He said he then traded it to the other aggravated robbery suspect for a rifle, court paperwork says. 

Previous criminal history for the trio

Dig deeper:

All three men have had previous run-ins with Travis County law enforcement.

Zamora is also serving 20 years for an April 8, 2024, aggravated assault, and had three other felonies that were dismissed after he pleaded guilty to the murder.

Rivera's criminal history is extensive, going back to 2023 and including charges of aggravated robbery, engaging in organized crime, deadly conduct, robbery and aggravated robbery, unlawful carrying of a weapon, possession, and evading and resisting arrest. Many of those charges were dismissed, or he received deferred adjudication.

Rodriguez had only one previous charge in Travis County, an aggravated robbery charge from 2023 for which he received deferred adjudication.