Two men with lengthy local rap sheets were arrested Friday night for last week’s murder of 20-year-old Aaron “Jack” Jackson Peterman at the Park North Condos on Aquarena Springs Drive,
Martin Garcia Jr., 23, of Austin and James Lee Zapata, 19, of Kyle were charged with “capital murder by other felony.” Each is being held under a $750,000 bond.
Police allege they shot Peterman once in the head in what is believed to have been a “drug-related robbery” on Monday, Feb. 11.
Peterman’s body was discovered by a family member Wednesday, Feb. 13, after which police responded to an “assist EMS” call at 7:24 a.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and the Travis County Medical Examiner’s office is conducting an autopsy.
In a press release issued Saturday morning, the city said “crucial assistance” in the case came from the Austin Police Department’s Violent Crimes Task Force and the Texas Rangers. They also said that the investigation is continuing and would be for “multiple weeks.”
Garcia’s arrest marks the 11th time he has been in Hays County Jail since 2014 on charges including vehicular burglary, criminal trespassing, possession of a controlled substance, robbery, evading/resisting arrest and assault on a public servant. Online records also indicate he served 270 days in state jail on the burglary charges.
Zapata’s arrest marks the fifth time he has been jailed here since 2016 and charges against him included possession/delivery of a controlled substance, making a terroristic threat and engaging in organized criminal activity. For the latter charge, he served three years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Zapata’s online records also indicate he has been arrested by San Marcos Police, the Hays County Sheriff’s Office, Kyle Police and Texas State University Police.
Peterman, of New Braunfels, was a freshman at Texas State University.
The murder was the first of the year in San Marcos, but the second to have occurred at Park North Condos, located in the 1600 block of Aquarena Springs Drive, within a span of six months. On Aug. 14, 2018, 27-yearold Jacob Rodriguez Jr. was found dead in the complex’s parking lot and two brothers were later charged.
Although it has been widely reported that was the only homicide in the city last year, the deaths of five people killed in the Iconic Village apartments fire July 20 were also ruled homicides.
