He killed two men deemed snitches, returned to set them on fire, Fort Worth police say
Two Burmese immigrants who lived together in Fort Worth were killed and later set on fire at separate locations in the city five weeks ago because their assailant believed that they were snitches, according to a police interview with one of three men who detectives allege were involved in the killings.
The case appears to have been broken in part by a license plate reader that linked a red Kia Rio with a missing gas cap door that the suspects used as they drove to and from one of the killing scenes to the name of its registered owner and driver, according to an affidavit supporting the arrest of one of the suspects.
Fort Worth police detectives this week arrested three men in connection with the slayings, and Tarrant County prosecutors on Friday charged them with capital murder in the deaths of Za Htoo and Snay Gay, whose bodies were found on Oct. 10.
George Vasquez, 18, Ma Gay, 19, and Jesus Hernandez, 22, were jailed and are scheduled for an initial court appearance on Tuesday.
A couple passing by in Echo Lake Park found Snay Gay’s body near railroad tracks about 50 yards from a walking path.
When police arrived, the 26-year-old’s body still smoldered.
It was in a rocky area of brush on the north side of the railroad tracks. Six spent 9mm shell casings were on the south side of the tracks, about 30 feet from the body. A forensic pathologist would determine that the victim had not been shot, but had been stabbed in his chest, abdomen and neck.
While Homicide Unit Detectives Tom O’Brien and Matt Barron were at the park scene, a call of another burned body took them to an alley between rows of houses about three miles away.
In the 4700 block of South Adams Street, two areas of the alley had been set on fire.
One was at the beginning of the alley’s entry near the street, and another was about 50 feet deeper, where Htoo’s body was in high grass. The 23-year-old victim had been shot and was face down.
Three spent 9mm shell casings were near the alley’s entry.
A neighbor told O’Brien that he heard several shots between 8 and 9 p.m. on Oct. 9 and saw what looked like a small red Kia driving south in the 4700 block of South Adams with its lights off.
Tracking on video camera recordings that vehicle’s appearance on streets near the alley scene became detectives’ focus. In viewing recordings from city and private video cameras, detectives saw a small hatchback with a dark line down its side. Based on the recordings, they believe Htoo was shot about 8:45 p.m. on Oct. 9 and his body was set on fire about eight hours later.
Eight days ago, detectives got a lead from a license plate reader vendor about a red 2009 Kia Rio5 that has been documented in the south Fort Worth area. Its gas cap door was missing, a detail detectives saw in one of the video recordings. They connected Hernandez to the car through its registration.
In an interview with detectives, Hernandez initially denied that he was involved in the killings, but later described a role in driving Vasquez and Ma Gay to the homicide scenes.
Hernandez said that he drove his vehicle with Vasquez and a person police suggest was Htoo to a location he later pointed out as the South Adams Street alley. Vasquez and Htoo got out of the car, and Vasquez shot him, according to Hernandez’s account described in the affidavit.
Vasquez later bragged to others that “he caught a body” and Hernandez heard Vasquez tell Ma Gay that “he took care of his op,” an abbreviated reference to opposition.
Ma Gay, who Hernandez knows as Sawhtoo, was pleased and said he wanted to go see his body, according to the affidavit.
Hernandez said that Vasquez later admitted to stabbing Snay Gay, although Hernandez did not use the victim’s name.
Hernandez said that hours later he drove Ma Gay and Vasquez back to both locations so that they could burn the bodies and destroy evidence. Hernandez told detectives that he believed the killings had to do with the victims being snitches, according to the affidavit, which does not offer other information on that allegation.
Hernandez said that at the alley, he saw Ma Gay and Vasquez move Htoo’s body away from the street.
The affidavit offers less information about the circumstances of Snay Gay’s death than Htoo’s killing, but it includes an account from Hernandez in which he describes driving Ma Gay and Vasquez to a residence where Vasquez walked an Asian man to the car. Hernandez said that he drove to Echo Lake Park, where Ma Gay and Vasquez walked the Asian man, who police suggest was Snay Gay, into the brush.
Only two men returned.
This story was originally published November 13, 2020 at 10:05 PM.
