A man had been dead for days inside a car parked behind a store in the El Paso summer heat before his body was found in the far East Side, court documents stated.
El Paso police homicide detectives arrested Erica Michelle Yarbrough, 35, who allegedly met up with her child’s father, Stephen Matthew Delgado, 38, before fatally shooting him on Aug. 2, in a parking lot behind a PetSmart store in the 3700 block of Joe Battle Boulevard near Montana Avenue, a criminal complaint affidavit states.
El Paso police officers found Delgado’s body inside a black 2019 Nissan Sentra on Wednesday, Aug. 5, after they responded to a 911 call about an unknown problem.
Officers found Delgado sitting inside his car with spent bullet casings and unfired bullets. “Foul play was suspected, and a murder investigation was commenced,” the affidavit states.
El Paso County Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. Janice Diaz performed an autopsy on Delgado’s body. Diaz determined that Delgado died from gunshot wounds and declared the death a homicide.
El Paso murder suspect allegedly confesses
Detectives conducted a surveillance operation at Yarbrough’s apartment complex, where they found a pickup truck that was seen at the shooting. Yarbrough was taken into custody.
She allegedly confessed to meeting with Delgado, doing drugs with him, shooting him and leaving the scene to get rid of the gun. The affidavit does not state whether the police found the gun.
Yarbrough was booked into the El Paso County jail on Saturday, Aug. 8. Her bond was set at $350,000, jail records show. She remains jailed as of Monday, Aug. 10.
No attorney is listed in court records for Yarbrough.
Video allegedly shows fatal shooting
Detectives met with Delgado’s family, who said he had a child with Yarbrough. Detectives canvassed the surrounding area and found a home with a security surveillance camera pointed in the general direction of where Delgado was found.
The video showed a small two-door pickup truck arriving and parking behind the PetSmart between 8 and 9 p.m. on Aug. 2. The truck was two-toned, and its bed appeared to be lowered.
Delgado’s car is seen arriving and stopping next to the truck. The two vehicles then park behind the pet supply store.
The video shows “what is believed to be suspected gunfire,” the affidavit states. The pickup truck leaves the parking lot a few seconds later toward Joe Battle.
Police use license plate reader camera to find truck
Detectives used a license plate reader camera that recorded the truck leaving the shooting and found that the vehicle was registered to Bobby Servin Yarbrough, “which coincidentally is the same last name as the mother” of Delgado’s child, the affidavit states.
License plate reader records showed that the truck had a history of parking at the Sherman Ridge Apartment Complex. The affidavit states that the records also showed Erica Yarbrough driving it.
Previous run-in with El Paso police
The investigation also showed that Erica Yarbrough had called police on June 4 to report that an “ex-friend” refused to leave her apartment, the affidavit states.
Erica Yarbrough told authorities that she had a handgun and she put it away. “She did not want to disclose the location of the firearm,” the affidavit states.
The affidavit states that this incident is “significant to detectives because it does establish that defendant Erica Yarbrough does own a firearm.”
Aaron Martinez covers the criminal justice system for the El Paso Times. He may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso woman allegedly admits to shooting child’s father, ditches gun
Reporting by Aaron Martinez, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Aaron Martinez, El Paso Times | USA TODAY Network
