A dead body was found under a bridge at the Alazan Apache Trail on Christmas Eve. Authorities today announced a search for a man in connection to the killing.
It’s the most recent in a rash of homicides and suspicious deaths reported on San Antonio’s 100-plus-mile Howard W. Peak Greenway Trail System since June.
According to San Antonio Police records, 49-year-old Robert Ibarra was found unresponsive on the trail under the San Jacinto Street bridge on the south bank. He was pronounced dead at the scene Tuesday morning.
At the scene, police reported possible trauma, but the cause of death was unknown at the time, documented an apparent sudden death. On Friday, his death was ruled a homicide.
Ibarra died of blunt force head injuries and manual strangulation, according to the medical examiner’s office.
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office and San Antonio Police Department on Friday posted to Facebook, asking for the public’s help in locating Avory Michael Rowe, the suspect accused of murdering Ibarra.
Anyone with information on Rowe should call 911 or the SAPD Homicide Office at 210-207-7635.
Serious crimes, including arson and homicides on San Antonio’s trails, have caused concern for public safety. San Antonio Park Police continues to reassure that the trails are safe; citing at the time that no additional major crimes had been reported.
But that changed this week with the discovery of Ibarra’s body along the Alazan Creek Greenway Trail. It’s part of the Westside Creeks Greenway System, a trailhead that connects to the city’s larger trail system, open daily from sunrise to sunset.
In June, 26-year-old U.S. Navy veteran Jarvis McIntire was reported missing while visiting San Antonio from St. Louis, Missouri. He was later found dead in a wooded area near Holbrook Road adjacent to the Salado Creek Hike and Bike Trail.
Police couldn’t confirm it was McIntire, but in a 9-1-1 call to police on June 9 from Holbrook Road, a caller told the dispatcher he was being chased by a person with a rifle, but the caller didn’t provide specific details about his location.
McIntire’s cause and manner of death was ruled undetermined after an autopsy by the Bexar County Medical Examiner. Police have not ruled his death a homicide.
Later in June, a woman was set on fire while she was sitting in her vehicle along the Salado Creek, near the Rice Road trailhead. She survived, but suffered severe burns on her arms and legs. A suspect was arrested for arson causing bodily injury.
In August, 37-year-old Moody Arteaga went missing after saying he was taking a walk at the Leon Creek Trail. He was found floating at a SAWS treatment plant — more than 22 miles away on the South Side — on Sept. 7.
Arteaga’s cause of death was labeled undetermined after an autopsy by the Medical Examiner’s Office.
On Sept. 22, 63-year-old Stacey Drama went missing after a daytime walk. Her body was found the next day in a wooded area of the trails east of Dafoste Park. Police have ruled her death a murder.
In October, 39-year-old Pete Hosea Castillo was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds sitting in an abandoned golf cart covered by a tarp at the Walker Ranch Trailhead. His death was ruled a homicide. Park Police have said Castillo may have been killed somewhere else and moved to the trail.
The Howard W. Peak Greenway Trail System has more than 50 main trailheads across the city, linking dozens of local parks. Approximately 1,600 acres of open space surround the trails.
