Texas Man Arrested After Phone Data Reveals He Searched Fingerprint Evidence Tips in 2019 Girlfriend Killing
Joey Tovar-Vargas was arrested Sunday in the 2019 death of Meagan Gonzales after new technology unlocked incriminating data from his cellphone. He is charged with tampering with a corpse.
Cold Case Cracked: Phone Data Exposes Texas Man in Girlfriend's Death
A Texas man spent more than five years free after allegedly setting his girlfriend's body on fire — until new cell phone forensics technology gave investigators the break they needed, Law & Crime reports.
Joey Emiliano Tovar-Vargas, 24, was arrested Sunday and booked into the Bexar County Jail on a $200,000 bond. He faces a charge of tampering with evidence — specifically, a corpse — in the 2019 death of 20-year-old Meagan Gonzales.
Gonzales was last seen alive on Nov. 11, 2019, riding in her truck with Tovar-Vargas in San Antonio, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar told reporters. Her family reported her missing four days later.
On Dec. 2, 2019, authorities located her truck at an apartment complex in the 5300 block of Northwest Loop 410. Blood was found inside the vehicle. The following day, Gonzales' body was discovered in a field at the 12000 block of Wisdom Road — more than 20 miles from where her truck had been abandoned.
Her body was badly burned, heavily decomposed, and wrapped in a blanket bearing a "distinctive" pattern, Salazar said. That blanket would become a critical piece of evidence years later.
Investigators long considered Tovar-Vargas a suspect but lacked sufficient evidence to charge him. That changed when the Bexar County Sheriff's cold case unit reopened the investigation last year and applied new forensic technology to data previously extracted from Tovar-Vargas' cellphone.
The results, Salazar said, amounted to a "treasure trove" of incriminating information. Location data placed the suspect near areas where some of Gonzales' personal property was later recovered. Detectives also found that he had searched online for "how long fingerprints last," as well as information on deleting social media accounts in the days following her disappearance.
Multiple photographs found on the phone showed the distinctive blanket — the same one used to wrap Gonzales' body — inside Tovar-Vargas' home, according to Salazar. A witness also came forward to report seeing Tovar-Vargas disposing of evidence in the days after the homicide.
Despite the volume of evidence now in hand, prosecutors have not yet charged Tovar-Vargas with murder. Salazar addressed that distinction directly.
"In a criminal investigation, there's what you believe happened, and there's what you can prove happened," the sheriff said. "So while we believe we know what happened, we believe that obviously that Mr. Tovar is responsible in what ultimately happened to Meagan. What we can prove at this point is that he disposed of her body."
Tovar-Vargas is scheduled to appear in court on March 29.
Gonzales' father, Eddie Gonzales, said he had long promised his daughter he would see someone held accountable for her death. After the arrest, he visited her altar.
"I told her, 'Meagan, it looks like you're getting your justice that I promised you,'" he said in an interview with San Antonio CBS affiliate KENS. "Meagan, I hope you get some rest now, as I'm getting it."
Source: Law & Crime