Months after a no-show in court and a murder case that kept getting pushed back, a man charged in a 2023 Southeast Side killing has been rearrested out of state and is now headed back to Bexar County, officials say. Michael Hernandez was located and detained last week in Love County, Oklahoma, bringing a long stretch of reschedulings to a halt after a November 2023 shooting that left a man dead.
The Bexar County District Attorney’s Office said Hernandez was rearrested in Love County, and the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office told reporters the extradition process is underway, according to KSAT. Linda Arzola’s son, Michael Ray Zepeda, was the man shot and killed in the November 2023 case. “We’ve been waiting,” Arzola said. “I want justice, and my family wants justice.”
What investigators say
The deadly shooting unfolded on the morning of Nov. 4, 2023, in the 9100 block of Excellence Drive on the city’s Southeast Side. San Antonio police said a caller who was close to the victim identified her ex-boyfriend as the shooter. Officers later spotted a blue pickup in a nearby market parking lot at Old Pearsall Road and Old Sky Harbor, then saw a man run into nearby brush before he was detained. Those initial details were reported at the time by the San Antonio Express-News.
Court timeline and next steps
According to the district attorney’s office, Hernandez was indicted in August 2024, and the case has since been rescheduled multiple times. His most recent pre-trial conference was set for Feb. 23, 2026, but prosecutors say he did not appear. A judge issued a warrant the next day, and officials told KSAT that his rearrest in Oklahoma came as a result of that warrant. A spokesperson for the DA’s office told the outlet it could not share any additional information about the pending case.
What extradition will mean
If Oklahoma authorities complete the transfer, Hernandez will be brought back to Bexar County to face the murder charge, along with any additional filings prosecutors may decide to pursue. The timing of the move depends on paperwork and coordination between agencies, and relatives say the arrest offers some relief but not true closure after years of waiting. Court records show Hernandez is expected back in Bexar County court next week.
