A decade has passed since the unsolved homicide of 28-year-old security guard Richard Escalante, who died from multiple stab wounds inflicted at a parking lot outside the El Agazajo Bar and Grill in Southeast Austin. In the early hours of Oct. 26, 2014, paramedics rushed a grievously injured Escalante to the University Medical Center Brackenridge where he was pronounced dead; however, the quest for his justice remains unfulfilled as investigators continue to piece together the sparse clues left behind, according to a Austin American Statesman report.
Police have made no arrests in relation to Escalante's case, but a statement obtained by KVUE mentioned detectives are eager to process more evidence as resources allow, acknowledging the presence of multiple DNA profiles amidst the victim's saturated DNA; "The problem with some of the evidence we have is that there is a saturation of the victim's DNA on a lot of the things we have, which makes it difficult to find strong DNA profiles of the suspect," the backup of testing due to limited resources continues to obstruct the progress, even after a decade which has only allowed the mystery to deepen.
Witnesses on the tragic night reported seeing two men in a black Nissan four-door vehicle which authorities have connected with the murder, yet those individuals remain unidentified and at large. Moments before the fatal confrontation, Escalante was seen speaking with patrons between two parked cars—this scene preceded the emergency calls that brought first responders to a still-alive Escalante, who was unable to speak and succumbed to his wounds shortly after, as detailed in interviews by law enforcement with KVUE.
Despite the passage of time and the altering landscapes of memories and cityscapes alike, neither swift vehicles nor the cloak of the night has carried away the gravity of what was lost—a life, a presence, a person named Escalante; Austin Police continue to seek any scrap of evidence or testimony that may break open the stalled case, they urge anyone with information to reach out to Crime Stoppers at 512-472-8477 (TIPS), hoping that a community's collective conscience may yet yield the key to a resolution long-awaited, KVUE reports and as further indicated by earlier statements from the police shared by Statesman.
