As details emerge surrounding the tragic road rage incident on the Northeast Side of San Antonio earlier this month, a 24-year-old man has been arrested under suspicion of the murder of Julie Marie Butcher, a mother of four. Butcher was shot in the head and her vehicle was found rolled into a ditch, where she was pronounced dead at the scene. Nicholas Hernandez, the alleged shooter, was arrested on Wednesday following investigative leads that pointed to his involvement in the incident, according to details from an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by KSAT.
Incendiary information from an anonymous tip on November 10 lead police to identify Hernandez who was reported to have made a confession to a close friend about his role in the shooting; Hernandez was said to have been driving a Volkswagen Jetta at the time further, his vehicle matched the description of the one fleeing the scene right after the shooting, according to the surveillance footage. An important eyewitness account aligns with these details, as they reported seeing a small blue and silver sedan, believed to be Hernandez's, shooting at Butcher's vehicle before speeding away. In an unexpected twist, Hernandez had filed a robbery report on November 6, claiming his Beretta 9mm handgun among other items was stolen, this report was lodged approximately 15 hours after the fatal shooting of Butcher.
In the days following the shooting, authorities pieced together evidence including phone records verifying Hernandez's presence in the vicinity during the time of the murder, as per records cited in the affidavit. A witness confirmed receiving an unsettling phone call from Hernandez around the time of the shooting, in which he purportedly admitted his involvement in a road rage altercation, News 4 San Antonio reports. Police raided Hernandez's home and found items he had previously reported stolen, throwing suspicion on the veracity of the robbery he had reported.
The unraveling of Hernandez's alleged fabrications continued as additional witnesses gave statements that contradicted his claims about the location of the supposed robbery, with one witness distinctly recalling that Hernandez came to his home requesting assistance in disposing of two 9mm shell casings removed from his car, Nicholas Hernandez admitted to the witness he was involved in a road rage incident, as per an affidavit mentioned by KSAT, further implicating him in the crime. The connection of phone records and testimonies has bolstered the case against Hernandez, who is now being held at the Bexar County Jail on murder charges.
