COLBERT COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) — A man who was once a suspect in the 2016 murder of a Texas woman was found and arrested in Colbert County, according to online jail records.
33-year-old Christopher Gonzalez was taken into custody on April 5 for a parole violation after being listed as a fugitive from justice and failing to report his move to Alabama, Colbert County Sheriff Eric Balentine confirmed with News 19.
He was one of seven people charged in the death of 21-year-old Breanna Wood in Corpus Christi, Texas, according to several news outlets in the area.
Joseph Tejeda, Woods’ ex-boyfriend, is accused of leaving her remains wrapped in plastic inside a small box in Robstown, Texas, after killing her in 2016. The two had reportedly last been seen at a local market on October 11.
On October 18, Woods’ mother filed a missing persons report with the Corpus Christi Police Department. Two days later, Tejeda was arrested on an unrelated outstanding warrant. On Jan. 3, 2017, following a report from an inmate who told police he was paid $500 to hide Woods’ body, where they found a box measuring less than 2-feet-by-2-feet and covered with a white sheet.
By December 2017, prosecutors announced a total of seven people were indicted in connection to Woods’ murder, including Gonzalez.
At first, Gonzalez was charged with capital murder and murder, but later pleaded to lesser charges of organized crime activity in exchange for testifying against Tejeda and Vasquez.
Tejeda is now scheduled to face trial on Aug. 15, after his trial scheduled for January was continued after his current attorney asked to be removed from the case. Tejeda is reported to have now cycled through three lawyers in the past year alone.
Sheriff Balentine confirmed Gonzalez has signed a waiver of extradition and is currently waiting to be transported back to Texas.