The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled that Michael Poche, 29, died by homicide, citing multiple sharp-force injuries to his head, neck, torso and both arms. The ruling establishes the manner of death, but it has not led to a murder charge: no one has been charged with killing Poche.
A Grim Discovery Off Potranco Road
The case began on Sunday, July 26, when a Bexar County sheriff's deputy responded just before 4:30 p.m. to a home in the 700 block of Fort Leonard, off Potranco Road, according to FOX 7 Austin. The call followed a missing-person report made that Sunday night for Poche, whose body deputies ultimately found wrapped in plastic and tucked in a closet inside the home near Potranco and Highway 211, as reported by MySA. A friend of Poche's said he had left the house that day after experiencing a night terror, per the same account.
A deputy found evidence of blood inside the residence, and Poche's body had multiple lacerations, according to expressnews.com. The report said investigators believed they had found a crime scene. Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said the way the body was tightly wrapped suggested Poche had not harmed himself, MySA reported.
Two Arrests Within Hours
Two people were arrested within hours of deputies arriving at the home that Sunday, per MySA's reporting. Margaret Kaye Brown and Christopher Boyd Henson were booked into the Bexar County Jail the following day, July 27, on third-degree felony charges of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. Investigators alleged the pair had attempted to clean up the crime scene before deputies arrived, the expressnews.com report noted.
Each defendant's bond was set at $100,000, the station's report said. Henson posted his bond on July 30, while Brown remained in custody for just over two weeks before posting hers on August 11. Brown had been the one who called 911 to report Poche missing, deputies said, which is how they came to search the rental home in the first place.
Case Still Awaiting Indictment
Brown and Henson's cases remain pending, with both awaiting indictment on the evidence-tampering charges. A grand jury's review of those charges is separate from the investigation into Poche's death: the Bexar County Sheriff's Office has announced no additional arrests, and no one has been charged with murder.
What a homicide ruling and indictment mean
A medical examiner’s homicide classification is not itself a finding that a particular person committed a crime. Texas law defines criminal homicide as causing another person’s death intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or with criminal negligence, according to the Texas Penal Code. Separately, the Texas Department of Public Safety’s 2023 Crime in Texas report says an offense may be cleared through an arrest or by exceptional means; clearance is distinct from whether anyone has been charged or convicted.
For the pending felony cases, Bexar County’s District Attorney’s Office says a grand jury returns a true bill if it finds probable cause, allowing a case to proceed; if evidence is insufficient to support an indictment, it returns a no bill and no prosecution takes place. That process does not determine who killed Poche.
A sheriff's office spokesperson said the investigation remains ongoing but offered no further updates to provide regarding the case, according to MySA. For a family still waiting on answers and a community left unsettled by the discovery, the gap between a homicide ruling and an actual murder charge leaves the central question of who killed Michael Poche unresolved.
