A Kyle man already facing a murder charge in the 2024 death of his wife is also accused in a newly detailed affidavit of repeatedly sexually abusing his young niece years earlier, allegedly assaulting her inside his vehicle before school. Marco Anthony Sanchez, 43, was arrested in February 2024 on the murder charge and was booked at the same time on an outstanding warrant for continuous sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony.
Kyle police were called to a welfare concern at Sanchez's home on Waterloo Drive on Feb. 23, 2024, according to CBS Austin. Officers arriving at the scene found his wife unconscious with severe blunt-force trauma injuries. She was taken to Ascension Seton Hays Hospital, where she later died from her injuries, the outlet reported. According to an arrest affidavit cited by the station, Sanchez told police that he beat his wife with a “bat or a club” and stopped only when officers arrived.
Sanchez was arrested on the murder charge and the outstanding continuous sexual abuse warrant, which had originated from the Austin Police Department. He was being held in the Hays County Jail on a combined bond of $750,000, according to KVUE.
Allegations Date Back to 2021 and 2022
Court documents detail allegations that Sanchez repeatedly sexually abused his then-8- and 9-year-old niece between August 2021 and March 2022, per an affidavit reported by KEYE. The girl told investigators the abuse happened multiple times inside Sanchez's vehicle before school, and that it began when she was 8 and continued after she turned 9. She said Sanchez had been touching her.
Sanchez allegedly drove the girl and one of her cousins to Pleasant Hill Elementary, taking the girl to the South Austin school himself. The girl remembered that the last incident occurred on March 1, 2022, and school attendance records confirmed that her cousin was absent from the vehicle that day because the cousin was sick, according to the affidavit.
The girl's mother reported her daughter's outcry to authorities, and the Hays County Sheriff's Office referred the case to Austin ISD police on March 10, 2022. The Center for Child Protection conducted a forensic interview on March 14, 2022, during which the girl identified Sanchez as her uncle, per the affidavit.
Text Messages and a Reported Plan to Flee
Sanchez's wife contacted Kyle police for a welfare check on March 2, 2022, after he sent her text messages early that morning, according to the affidavit. In those messages, he wrote, according to the affidavit, “I don't know what [she] told you, but this is a big mistake. I never wanted to do anything to her. Please think about what you're going to do; please think about my children.” He also indicated in Spanish that he was thinking about hurting himself, but later told an officer by phone that he was okay.
Sanchez left home in March 2022 and reportedly planned to go to Mexico to stay with relatives, the affidavit states. Investigators were unable to determine his whereabouts after he left, and his wife told authorities she did not know where he was living, saying she had limited contact with him through an unknown phone number. Investigators considered Sanchez a flight risk.
DNA Evidence Left Unmatched
Investigators collected clothing the girl was wearing during the alleged March 1 incident, and the Texas Department of Public Safety tested the items. A DPS laboratory report found semen on one piece of clothing, but investigators could not compare the DNA to Sanchez because they had not obtained a sample from him, according to the affidavit detailed by KEYE.
Based on the allegations, investigators obtained a warrant accusing Sanchez of continuous sexual abuse of a young child — a first-degree felony under Texas law. That warrant was still outstanding nearly two years later when Kyle police arrested him on the murder charge following his wife's death.
