CBS 19 - The Eye of East Texas News - Man stabbed 26 times in violent homicide

Man stabbed 26 times in violent homicide

ATHENS (Tyler Morning Telegraph) - Murder charges are pending against at least two men and another is being sought for questioning. This follows a violent Thanksgiving Day homicide.

Henderson County Sheriff's Investigator Bryan Tower said he has secured one arrest warrant for murder and is working on another warrant in the death of 52-year-old Elizalde Jose Morales of Malakoff.

Morales' body was found by a work crew near the side of Farm-to-Market Road 59 near Cross Roads Friday.

Tower said though the complete autopsy has not been returned, a preliminary report by Southwest Institute of Forensic Science in Dallas shows Morales suffered 26 stab and sharp-force trauma wounds to his body.

"In my mind, this was a premeditated act and I am working to charge several with Mr. Morales' murder," he said. "This was definitely a violent crime."

Tower said Morales was at a party at the Laredo Ballroom in Malakoff on Thanksgiving Day and ran into Mariano Rivera Ramirez, Cecilio Padron-Perez and Silvano Rivera.

"The three suspects lured our victim into a pickup truck under false pretenses and drove him to the location where his body was found," he said.

After the body was discovered, deputies located a weapon close to the scene believed to have been used in the death.

Tower said he has secured a warrant murder for Padron-Perez and is working on obtaining a warrant on Ramirez, who is behind bars in the Henderson County Jail on evading arrest charges. Rivera is being sought for questioning.

Tower asked anyone with information about the crime to contact the Henderson County Sheriff's Office at 903-675-5128.