AUSTIN, Texas — A second suspect has been charged with murder in connection with a deadly shooting in northwest Austin in April.
Amanda Escobar, 33, is accused of assisting her boyfriend in the April 22 homicide by driving a getaway vehicle and warning him about the police investigation.
According to an affidavit, Escobar helped her boyfriend, 29-year-old Javier Vega-Funes, flee the scene after he shot 35-year-old Jose Rubio near the MAA Balcones Woods apartment complex on Research Boulevard.
Escobar then allegedly drove Vega-Funes and his injured brother, David Cerda-Funes, to a local hospital in a Chevrolet Tahoe. Escobar immediately left the emergency room after dropping Cerda-Funes off, police said.
According to the Austin Police Department, Rubio shot Cerda-Funes at 11215 Research Blvd. before leaving on foot. Vega-Funes then helped his brother into the Tahoe and left the apartment to catch up with Rubio while he was still on foot.
Vega-Funes allegedly got out of the Tahoe and shot Rubio on the southbound frontage road of U.S. 183 at the Balcones Woods Drive intersection.
The affidavit said Escobar warned Vega-Funes about the police investigation, sending him texts that said, “The cops are talking to me, stop calling” and “Baby leave now.”
Police said surveillance video also showed Escobar getting out of the driver’s seat of the Tahoe at the hospital.
Escobar allegedly told police that she and Cerda-Funes were the only two people inside the Tahoe, concealing Vega-Funes’ whereabouts and lying about her role in assisting him.
Escobar was arrested and booked into the Travis County Jail on June 20. She is charged with first-degree murder.
The case is being investigated as Austin’s 16th homicide of 2024.