Inset: David Elijah Herrera (HPD). Background: The home where Herrera allegedly killed his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend (Google Maps).
A 31-year-old Texas man is accused of fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend in the driveway of their home shortly after they dropped their 4-year-old son off at school.
David Elijah Herrera was arrested and charged with capital murder in the slayings of 29-year-old Dariela Elizabeth Cardona and 41-year-old Erick Von Gerbitz, court records show.
According to a news release from the Houston Police Department, officers responded to a reported shooting at a residence in the 900 block of Lindale Street around 8:15 a.m. on Oct. 5. Upon arriving, first responders found a man and a woman suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Emergency medical personnel with the Houston Fire Department pronounced both victims dead at the scene.
Police did not detail the investigation beyond saying they identified Herrera as a suspect and took him into custody "a short time later in Liberty County."
In a court order denying bond, a magistrate judge wrote that Herrera "shot and killed his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend," then "confessed to both murders."
Family members told Houston CBS affiliate KHOU that Cardona had ended her relationship with Herrera about a month earlier and recently reunited with Von Gerbitz, the father of her young son. The family said Von Gerbitz had received a threat from Herrera the night before the killings.
Blanca Gerbitz, Erick Von Gerbitz's mother, told the station that her son had recently moved back to Houston from Amarillo, hoping to reunite his family. She said she drove him back to Houston about two weeks before his death because she feared for his safety.
"I told him, 'I've had a bad feeling, son, and that's why I brought you home,'" she said.
Blanca Gerbitz said her son called her Sunday night to tell her that Herrera had threatened to kill him. Von Gerbitz described the couple's attempt to get help.
"I called 911 and it's 11:00 and they never came," Von Gerbitz told his mother, according to her account. "It's been four hours, and they never came."
Von Gerbitz's sister, Lisa Leal, reportedly reviewed security footage from her brother's home that showed the couple return to the house after dropping their boy off at school to find Herrera waiting. When Von Gerbitz demanded that Herrera leave, Herrera opened fire on the couple, according to Leal.
Investigators are examining the shooting as a domestic violence killing, and police believe Herrera was upset that Cardona had reconciled with Von Gerbitz, local ABC affiliate KTRK reported.
Investigators also received information from a witness who saw a man leaving the area and reportedly recorded part of a license plate. Police used Flock Safety license-plate readers to locate the red Ford Fusion Herrera was allegedly driving in Liberty County.
Cardona was the mother of two boys and worked as a hairstylist at a salon in Houston's Heights neighborhood. She had worked there for about two years, according to local Fox affiliate KRIV.
"Her laugh was very contagious," a former co-worker told the station.
Jesus Flores, a neighbor who had known Cardona's family for years, remembered how much she did for her sons in comments to KTRK.
"She loved her sons; she was always taking them out, from what I remember, you know. Man, she just started her business; she was doing hair, she was doing really well. Everything she could do, she did it for them," Flores said.
Blanca Gerbitz had a blunt warning for others who might dismiss signs of violence from a jilted ex.
"Don't ever underestimate a jealous person," she said, adding, "Never."
Herrera is in the Harris County Jail without bond, records show. His next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 5.