By Andy Sevilla.
A San Antonio man who police say confessed to killing a woman in Wimberley last week has still not been formally charged for the death, pending medical clearance from apparent self-inflicted knife injuries.
| MANNING |
According to the Hays County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO), Shaun Mireles, 22, traveled to Wimberley with Denise Manning, 45. The San Antonio couple was in a relationship and reportedly rented a cottage from the Cypress Creek Cottages in Wimberley a day before the incident.
Just after 8 a.m. March 26, HCSO received a call from a woman who reported a female lying on a driveway, unresponsive and with apparent stab wounds, in the 100 block of Scudder Lane.
Sheriff Gary Cutler said in a news conference late last week that Manning was found dead at the rental cottage with signs of trauma and apparent stab wounds.
Authorities found Mireles inside the cottage with self-inflicted knife injuries to the chest. Cutler said Mireles confessed to killing Manning.
Star Flight transferred Mireles to an Austin hospital a short time later.
Manning was pronounced dead at the scene, though investigators have not identified a cause of death, pending a full autopsy report.
The owner of the cottage where the couple was staying, according to Cutler, was the last person to see the pair when he answered a maintenance call at their rental unit at about 9 p.m. on March 25, about six hours after Manning and Mireles checked-in.
He said the owner didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary and was only at the unit a short while to fix the television. Cutler said no one else was with the couple.
| MIRELES |
The sheriff said the homicide was “very unusual” for Wimberley and believed the couple drove to the area to spend a few days outside of San Antonio.
“I don’t know when the last time we had a homicide in the Wimberley area, but I do want to emphasize the fact that this was not a resident of Wimberley or Hays County…” Cutler said.
Officials said Monday afternoon that Mireles still remained at the hospital he was taken to five days earlier, and would not release the suspect’s condition.
A knife was recovered at the scene, Cutler said, and officials declined to comment if alcohol or drugs played a role in the homicide, citing the ongoing investigation.
Cutler said Mireles has a criminal history involving misdemeanor offenses.
