The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office arrested a 24-year-old man Thursday evening in connection with the 2019 death of Megan Gonzalez, whose burned body was found in a field in southwest Bexar County.
Joey Emiliano Tovar-Vargas is being booked on a charge of tampering with evidence and on an unrelated human smuggling warrant out of another county, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said.
Tovar-Vargas has not been charged with the murder itself, but has been charged with disposing of her body.
Gonzalez, 20, was last seen alive around Nov. 11, 2019, with Tovar Vargas in her vehicle, according to the sheriff’s office. She was reported missing to San Antonio police on Nov. 15, 2019.
Her truck was found Dec. 2, 2019, in the 5300 block of Northwest Loop 410. Investigators found blood in the truck bed that was later linked by DNA to Gonzalez, officials said.
The next day, her body was found in the 12000 block of Wisdom Road in southwest Bexar County. It was burned and badly decomposed and was wrapped in a blanket with a distinctive pattern, officials said.
Tovar Vargas was suspected early on, Salazar said, but investigators said there was little evidence tying him to the case, and the investigation eventually went cold after leads were exhausted.
This year, the sheriff’s office cold case team applied technology that was not available in 2019 to evidence already in hand — chiefly Tovar Vargas’ cellphone. Officials described the phone as a “treasure trove” of information.
Investigators said phone records place him near where Gonzalez’s belongings were found dumped in a neighborhood and near the apartment complex where her truck was found. They said the phone also contained searches about how long fingerprints last and how to delete social media accounts.
Investigators said witnesses saw him dumping items in the days after Gonzalez disappeared and before her body was found, and that they believe he asked a witness for help moving a body. Photos on his phone also showed the distinctively patterned blanket inside his home before her death, officials said.
The sheriff’s office said Tovar Vargas has a lengthy criminal history and is a suspect in domestic violence cases involving three other women, all of whom are alive. Investigators said they believe he and Gonzalez were dating but have no reports of violence between them.
The case remains under investigation. The sheriff’s office asked anyone with information to call 210-335-6000.
This story is developing and may be updated as we learn more.
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