Bodies found in Del Valle, deaths ruled as homicide

*Update* 9/30 The Travis County Sheriff's Office has released the identities of the two bodies found on September 27 in Del Valle and it says their deaths have been ruled as homicide.

The bodies of 40-year-old Rene Rodriguez aka Martin Ybarra Molina and 25-year-old Salomon Perez were found in the 16000 block of Pearce Lane.

Detectives do not have any evidence connecting this crime to the quadruple homicide that occurred on September 8 on Linden Road in Del valle.

If anyone has information about the deaths of Rodriguez and Perez you're encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 512-472-8477.


Autopsies have been performed on the two decomposed bodies found in a field in Del Valle on Tuesday. 

They were found in the 16000 block of Pearce Lane in Del Valle But, the Travis County Sheriff's Office says the victims have not been identified yet. Authorities say they aren't ruling anything out.

They are taking into consideration other recent crimes in the area, including a quadruple homicide and fire that happened just down the street. "Two bodies dumped on the side of the road," says Gloria De La Cruz, neighbor. 

"It scares me. It's very scary. I've never heard of such thing. That's very scary," says De La Cruz.

Gloria De La Cruz has lived right next door since the early 80's. She says it's always been a pretty isolated area - until now. "The city is growing and everything is coming toward this way. It's so easy; I could see how they just dumped it in the woods," says De La Cruz.

The Travis County Sheriff's Office responded Tuesday afternoon to the 16000 block of Pearce Lane in Del Valle. They say a resident was leaving her home when she found two decomposed bodies in the front of her property.

Investigators strongly believe the bodies were there for more than a day.

"This is a very unusual situation. To find two bodies in a field like this, of course, it's not ordinary. It's a very tragic event. We're not going to make any assumptions at all, at this point in time, about who these people are or the manner of death. We're going to carefully investigate this," says Kristen Dark, Travis County Sheriff's Office.

Three weeks ago, the sheriff's office responded to a house fire just a few blocks over on Linden Road.

That investigation quickly turned into a quadruple homicide. Neighbors we spoke with that day noticed suspicious behavior surrounding the home. "Cars going there all hours of the night and day - just going in and out. You know that they're not the residents there. So we think that maybe they were up to something no good," says Victor Facundo, neighbor.

It's believed that the four victims were fatally shot before the house burned.

The case is still unsolved.

Investigators will see if there is any connection to the bodies found Tuesday.

"We're not going to rule anything out. This is the vicinity of the quadruple homicide and any time you have an event like that, and then it's followed closely with an event like this, you can't rule anything out. But, we're also not going to jump to any conclusions," says Dark.
   
De La Cruz hopes officers will start patrolling the area, that way these type of crimes come to an end.

"First of all it's the safety of all this neighborhood. This neighborhood has been peaceful and we've never had any violence or anything. Just recently the fire, so it's kind of scary for us people that live here," says De La Cruz.

In the meantime, they will be keeping an eye-out.

Other crimes that have been reported in the area over the last two months include: theft, auto theft, cruelty to animals, assault with injury and possession of child pornography. The Travis County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's help. If you saw anything within the last 48 hours, give them a call.