Press Releases
March 19, 2019 — Investigators with the San Angelo Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division are conducting a homicide investigation in northwest San Angelo.
At approximately 4:26 p.m., San Angelo Police were dispatched to the 2000 block of Walnut Street for the report of a shooting victim.
While en route, responding officers were updated with the suspect’s clothing description and location of the victim.
At approximately 4:30 p.m., responding officers located the suspect in the 2000 block of Bailey Street. The suspect, who was later identified as Gabriel James Ortiz Sr., was taken into custody and detained without incident. The shooting victim, 28-year-old San Angelo resident Ernesto Hernandez, was located deceased in the backyard of a nearby residence. Justice of the Peace J.P. McGuire responded to the scene and formally pronounced Hernandez deceased.
The Department’s Crime Scene Investigations Unit responded to assist with the follow-up investigation and multiple patrol units were utilized to cordon off the area.
Ortiz will be charged with Murder. This is an ongoing investigation and additional information will be released when it becomes available.
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On Monday, March 18, 2019, the San Angelo Police Department’s Traffic Section conducted a School Zone Traffic Enforcement Operation utilizing LIDAR near the Bonham Elementary, Bowie Elementary, Crockett Elementary, Fannin Elementary, Glenmore Elementary, Holiman Elementary, Lamar Elementary, and McGill Elementary campuses. A total of twenty-two (22) citations and seven (7) warnings were issued.
Following the School Zone Enforcement, officers conducted LIDAR Traffic Enforcement in the westbound traffic lanes of the 1700 block of East Houston Harte. A total of thirty-nine (39) citations and nine (9) warnings were issued.
Citation Breakdown:
School Zones
Other/Misc. Violations: 2
No Insurance: 2
Speeding: 16
Warnings: 7
DWLI: 2
Houston Harte
Other/Misc. Violations: 2
No Insurance: 1
Speeding: 35
Warnings: 9
DWLI: 1
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March 11, 2019 — Today, Investigators with the Department’s Street Crimes Division executed a Search and Arrest Warrant at the Super 8 Motel located at 410 W. Avenue L.
The warrant, issued by Justice of the Peace Susan Werner, named 33-year-old Erica Holiday to be in possession of Methamphetamine at the location.
Holiday was located and detained during the search, which yielded nearly twenty-one (21) grams of suspected Methamphetamine along with narcotic distribution paraphernalia.
Holiday was arrested for First Degree Felony Manufacture Delivery of Controlled Substance and was booked into the Tom Green County Jail.
The Department’s Patrol Division assisted with today’s operation.
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On Tuesday, March 5, 2019, the San Angelo Police Department’s Traffic Section conducted LIDAR Traffic Enforcement in the 4200 block of West Houston Harte Expressway from 12:30 – 2:30 p.m. A total of sixty-six (66) citations and eight (8) warnings were issued.
From 2:30 – 4:00 p.m., a School Zone Traffic Enforcement Operation utilizing LIDAR was conducted in numerous school zones. A total of forty-six (46) citations and seven (7) warnings were issued.
Citation Breakdown:
Houston Harte
Other/Misc. Violations: 10
No Insurance: 5
Speeding: 48
Warnings: 8
No DL: 1
DWLI: 2
School Zones
Other/Misc. Violations: 8
No Insurance: 2
Speeding: 32
Warnings: 7
No DL: 1
DWLI: 3
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On Monday, March 4, 2019, Investigators with the San Angelo Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division arrested 61-year-old Adolph Gonzales in the culmination of the 32-year-old unsolved murder of Dovie Dykes. Gonzales was located and taken into custody in Lewisville, Texas with assistance from the Texas Rangers and booked into the Denton County Jail. Gonzales is charged with First Degree Felony Murder.
83 at the time of her murder, Dovie Dykes’s lifeless body was located inside her residence at 1026 Culberson on the morning of July 11, 1986. Ms. Dykes was discovered by a family member.
The subsequent criminal investigation by San Angelo Police Department Detectives revealed Ms. Dykes had been sexually assaulted. Furthermore, an autopsy conducted by the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that Ms. Dykes died as a result of cardiac arrhythmia she experienced during the assault.
With no immediate arrest or viable tips to go on, Ms. Dykes’s murder remained a mystery and the case grew cold. Several years later, investigative efforts were reinvigorated by San Angelo Police Department Cold Case Detective Jim Coleman, who coordinated with the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Lab for additional DNA testing.
DPS Crime Lab Officials deemed that the sample, which was found to be from an unknown male, was not sufficient for submission into the Combined DNA Index System (CODUS); however, the sample was adequate for DNA comparison if a known DNA profile was submitted. At the time of this development, there were no known suspects and the case came to a standstill.
In March 2015, Detective Coleman re-engaged Officials with the DPS Crime Lab in hopes that the sample could be re-evaluated using the latest scientific techniques. This new effort proved successful and the sample was deemed a sufficient quantity for submission into CODUS.
In May 2015, the Federal DNA Database Unit of the FBI conducted a routine search of their Convicted Offender Database. That routine search resulted in a match with a previously convicted federal offender — Adolph Gonzales. Furthermore, through follow up investigation, Detectives discovered that Gonzales previously lived at 1023 Culberson.
As a result, Investigators were granted a search warrant for Gonzales’s DNA, which was obtained and submitted to the DPS Crime Lab for comparison in July 2015.
In November 2017, a DPS Forensic Scientist notified our investigators that the submitted sample DNA profile was over one (1) billion times more likely to have come from Gonzales than from another subject.
Following Detective Coleman’s departure from the Department in 2017, the investigation was assigned to Detectives Lynn Dye and Adrian Castro. Pursuant to their follow up investigation and receipt of a positive DNA evidence confirmation by the DPS Crime Lab, probable cause was established to obtain an Arrest Warrant for Gonzales on March 1, 2019.
(Dovie Dykes's family member, Pam Guess, holds a handmade quilt Dykes made for Guess's daughter during a press conference at Police Headquarters)
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