Salvador Sanchez, 30, was found dead with gunshot wounds in a dense bamboo thicket at John Treviño Jr. Metro Park in East Austin on September 11, 2023. Austin Police responded after a call from the Travis County Sheriff’s Office at about 9:30 p.m. Decomposition made immediate identification difficult.

Neighbors reported a disturbance on September 8 between Sanchez and 45-year-old Jared Nelson at a residence in the 4000 block of Lower Drive. Witnesses said multiple gunshots were heard from Nelson’s property between about 3:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. on September 9. A later search of Nelson’s residence turned up spent cartridges and blood spatter. Nelson was taken into custody on September 15, first on a trespassing charge; during interviews he admitted shooting a man known as Diablo, later identified as Salvador Sanchez, and said Sanchez confronted him with a metal crowbar. He also said he struck Sanchez in the head with a wooden post and dragged the body to the bamboo area where it was found. Nelson was charged with first-degree murder; this was listed as Austin’s 44th homicide of 2023.

Did anyone in the area see Sanchez between the disturbance on September 8 and his body’s discovery on September 11?