They told police they killed an attacker who had a stick. Now they face murder charges
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Two men who initially told police they were attacked by a man with a stick last month outside a Denton bar are now charged with beating him to death.
Evidence shows that the victim never attacked Leonardo Villareal, 38, of Denton and James C. Auxier, 29, of Lewisville with a stick, police said. The pair were arrested Thursday and face murder charges.
The victim was identified as Kenneth Wayne George, 58, of nearby Krum, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner's website. George died Feb. 24 from blunt force trauma to his abdomen, and his death was ruled a homicide.
Police responded to a criminal mischief call at 9:30 p.m. Feb. 20 at Jack's Tavern, 508 Elm St.
At that time, Auxier and Villareal told officers that George approached their vehicle and shattered the windshield with a stick and then tried to hit them with it.
They told police that they took the stick from George and that Villareal then punched George, knocking him unconscious. Police observed a large laceration below George's left eye.
George, whose orbital socket was fractured, was taken to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Denton, where he was treated and released.
Four days after the beating, George was transported from his home to a Denton hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, police said.
"James and Leonardo's initial statements on February 20 were not truthful," police said in a news release.
Domingo Ramirez Jr.: 817-390-7763, @mingoramirezjr
This story was originally published March 11, 2018 at 10:15 AM with the headline "They told police they killed an attacker who had a stick. Now they face murder charges."