VICTORIA, Texas - Two years after a popular San Antonio restaurant owner's brutal murder, her teenage neighbor went on trial for her murder. Joe Estrada, Jr., 19, is accused of killing Viola Barrios inside her home back in 2008. Because of all the media attention, the trial was moved to Victoria.
News 4 WOAI's Janet Kwak is in Victoria and has been following the trial since it started Monday morning.
Viola Barrios, who was born in Mexico and opened Los Barrios in 1979, was found dead with an arrowhead lodged in her skull. Prosecutors say Estrada killed his 76-year-old neighbor before stealing her silver Mercedes and credit cards.
News 4 WOAI was asked by the judge not to film any jurors or witnesses, but we were able to record Estrada's every reaction as details about Viola Barrios' life and murder unfolded in the courtroom.
Often shifting glances at the Barrios family, Estrada showed little emotion, resting his head in his hands throughout much of the day.
Estrada pleaded "not guilty," but Bexar County prosecutors are trying to convince a 12-member jury otherwise. They say Estrada shot Barrios using a bow and arrow, stole her credit cards, and went on a shopping spree before setting her body on fire. They believe the then 18-year-old Estrada was trying to burglarize her home.
Bexar County assistant district attorney Tamara Strauch recounted to jurors how Estrada, hours after Barrios was killed, allegedly bragged about his new car while getting his hair cut and highlighted at an upscale shopping mall.
"He said, ‘Hey Ricky, what do you drive?’” Strauch said Barrios told a hairstylist before pulling out a set of keys. “’I drive a Mercedes.’”
Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed sat in on what is expected to be weeks of testimony and presentation of evidence.
"It's the death of a beloved person in our community," Reed said.
Reed said the state is will trot out witnesses into next week.
Witnesses who testified Monday included a neighbor who saw Barrios watering her plants on the night of her death, firefighters who first found her body, and Barrios's daughter, who trembled as she described her mother as a hardworking widow.
Patrick Hancock, Estrada's attorney, postponed making an opening statement to jurors until later in the trial. Estrada was 18 when he was arrested.
News 4 WOAI tried to talk to Estrada's family during a court recess, but they declined an interview, for now.
Prosecutors say Estrada's family lived next door to Barrios for several years. Barrios had sold her home and was scheduled to move out less than two weeks before she died. Witnesses say Barrios was supposed to move into a new home closer to her family.
Next week will be Joe Estrada's 20th birthday.
Nestled well north of the more touristy River Walk, Los Barrios grew into a landmark adored by locals and in-the-know out-of-towners. In 2004, the family opened a second restaurant, La Hacienda de los Barrios, near the city's wealthy northern suburbs.
Diana Barrios Trevino, Viola's daughter, wrote a family cookbook and has appeared on San Antonio Living, the Food Network and on ABC's "Good Morning America" with celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse. She testified that her mother, despite getting older, was in good health and still involved in the restaurant.
"She opened and closed. She always served (customers) with grace," Barrios Trevino said.
According to prosecutors, Estrada broke into the home in April 2008 through one of the few windows not protected by burglar bars. Gasoline was used to a fuel a fire, Strauch said.
Prosecutors say Estrada then embarked on a daylong spending spree. He allegedly used two of Barrios' credit cards to buy a shirt at a designer store, around $800 in electronics, a cell phone and to get his hair styled.
After Estrada's arrest, Strauch said he kept repeating, "I'm sorry. I did it."
