Third man linked to body in car trunk

WESLACO — Police arrested a third suspect Monday in connection with the beating death of a 44-year-old man last month.

Armando Leal, 62, of Weslaco, was charged with Juan Arevalo’s murder and accused of helping his friends dump the body in the trunk of his Buick LeSabre.

Leal’s wife found the body there later that morning when she used the car to buy her husband some breakfast. Arevalo had been stripped to his underwear and was covered in cuts and bruises.

Investigators say Leal was one of three men seen arguing with Arevalo outside Robles Lounge — a nightspot on the 200 block of North Kansas Street that is popular with middle-aged customers — during the early morning hours of Aug. 13.

One of them, later identified as David de la Rosa, 51, allegedly beat Arevalo to death with a baseball bat, according to the probable cause affidavit in his case.

What started the fight between the four men remains unclear, but Leal, Arevalo, de la Rosa and Espinoza started off the evening as friends, according to Weslaco police spokesman David Molina.

Authorities arrested de la Rosa and Julian Espinoza, 50, in the days after Arevalo’s murder but stopped short of naming Leal as a suspect for nearly a month.

“We were trying to collect more evidence and talk to more witnesses to make sure we had a solid case,” Molina said.

On Monday, Leal was formally charged with murder under the “law of parties,” which allows authorities to charge and try suspects who played an indirect role in a crime as if they had committed it. Espinoza is also charged under the law of parties.

If convicted, all the suspects could face up to life in prison and a $10,000 fine.

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Jeremy Roebuck covers courts, law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437. 4