DALLAS (AP) - A Dallas County man accused of beating two homeless men to death with a sledgehammer last year has been charged with two counts of murder.
Adelaido Amaya Esparza, 58, was indicted in late December in the deaths of Fredrick Billmeier Jr. and Daniel Slusser, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Billmeier was found bludgeoned to death at a bus stop in West Dallas on Oct. 20. Police said in an affidavit that surveillance video from a nearby business showed someone strike the man several times with an object but that the camera was too far away to identify the assailant.
Slusser was found unconscious and bleeding with serious head injuries at a strip mall in Oak Cliff Nov. 20. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said surveillance footage showed someone approaching Slusser while he was sleeping then hitting him “several times with a full size sledgehammer.”
Police believed there was “a high possibility” both crimes were committed by the same person because of the similarities between the attacks and their close proximity.
Additional surveillance footage showed a man put the bloody sledgehammer, which had duct tape wrapped around its handle, in an older black Honda SUV and drive away.
After locating the SUV on a vehicle database, a detective found the SUV parked outside Esparza’s home. Officers surveilling the home saw Esparza leave in the SUV. When police pulled him over, a sledgehammer with duct tape and blood was found in the back of the vehicle.
Esparza denied any involvement in the killings. Investigators performed forensic analysis on his SUV and found Billmeier’s DNA in the trunk and the backseat, according to the affidavit. They discovered found DNA belonging to Billmeier and Slusser on the sledgehammer, the affidavit says.
Police have not said if he is a suspect in other slayings of homeless men in the area.
Esparza remained in the Dallas County jail Monday, with bail set at $1 million. A judge has ordered that he undergo a mental-competency exam to determine whether he is fit to stand trial.
Esparza’s attorney declined to comment on the case.
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