Texts show rift between parents of boys slain in Graham

Text messages exchanged between a Young County man and the mother of the boys he is accused of killing show the hatred and distrust the parents had for each other, according to testimony Friday in the man’s capital murder trial.

Gabriel Armandariz, 32, is accused of strangling his 8-month-old son, Luke, and his 2-year-old son, Gatlin, on April 13, 2011. He hid their bodies in the crawl space under the house they shared with relatives in Graham, prosecutors say.

Hours before the killings, Armandariz sent the mother, his ex-girlfriend Lauren Smith, a text that said: “I commend the spirits of these two boys to the Lord. I would much rather be with them than to be out partying with friends.”

Another text sent about the same time said: “Look, I’m trying to offer you another opportunity to see our children. But as usual you would much rather be with your friends.”

Prosecutors introduced the texts during testimony by Jeff Shaffer, a former Secret Service agent now assigned to the North Texas Electronic Crimes Task Force.

Texts sent to Armandariz’s phone by Smith suggest that she believed she was talking to a woman whom Armandariz was with while he cared for their sons, prosecutor Lisa Tanner said. Tanner allowed for the possibility that Smith was fooled, explaining that it was impossible to positively identify the person receiving her texts.

One of the texts read: “If I were you I’d get the hell away from him. Looks can be deceiving.”

Another text said: “Gabriel knows everything. When you think he’s not watching he is. When you are through playing house let me know.”

On the day his sons died, Armandariz sent Smith a picture of their younger boy, Luke, hanging with what appeared to be a rope around his neck from the ceiling of a closet.

On Friday, jurors saw a seven-minute video of Armandariz bathing the children, pushing Luke in a swing and laughing with the children as they cooed in response.

The photos and video, captured from the parents’ cellphones, were authenticated by Shaffer.

“That beautiful little baby that you saw playing in that video is the same one that you saw hanging in another picture that you took from the cellphones, isn’t it?” Tanner asked.

“Yes,” Shaffer said.

If Armandariz is convicted, prosecutors will ask the jury to sentence him to death. The case was moved from Young County to Tarrant County because of extensive pretrial publicity.

This story was originally published February 20, 2015 at 2:19 PM with the headline "Texts show rift between parents of boys slain in Graham."