Maverick Co Sheriff Roberto Emilio Vasquez-Santamaria
Roberto Emilio Vasquez-Santamaria is an illegal immigrant from Peru who is accused of killing a U.S. citizen in Eagle Pass, Texas, according to Fox News and statements from the Maverick County Sheriff’s Department in Texas.
The Maverick County, Texas, Sheriff spoke to Fox about Vasquez-Santamaria, saying that he was “released into the U.S. only a few months ago before being charged with murder.”
Eagle Pass has issued a disaster declaration because of the number of migrants pouring into the community, according to The San Antonio Express-News.
The Maverick County Sheriff’s Department shared a photo of Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber “reporting to the local and national news outlets in regards to the 2,700 Immigrants located under port of entry #2.”
The post continued: “Sheriff Tom Schmerber wants to a assure the public that he and his staff are working in conjunction with the Texas Department of Public Safety, Eagle Pass Police Dept, U.S. Border Patrol, And CBP in protecting our border.”
Here’s what you need to know:
The Sheriff Described Roberto Emilio Vasquez-Santamaria as a ’64 Year Old Male From Peru’
Maverick Co SheriffRoberto Emilio Vasquez-Santamaria
The sheriff told Fox the victim, 40, is from Houston and was found deceased in an Eagle Pass, Texas, home “with blunt force injuries to the head.”
Schmerber gave an update on Facebook on September 20, 2023, in “reference to a homicide that occurred yesterday. Roberto Emilio Vasquez-Santamaria has been charged with murder, a 64 year old male from Peru. Sheriff Schmerber would like to thank Ranger Balderas for his assistance from the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Sheriffs Office Criminal Investigation Division for their hard work.”
According to NewsNation, Vasquez-Santamaria “passed through the Eagle Pass sector in May. He was processed and released with a notice to appear virtually at a Florida station in June 2025. The Peru native allegedly provided two different addresses in Tampa and Orlando.”
The Victim May Have Been a Smuggler, Reports Say
Maverick Co SheriffThe Maverick County Sheriff
Citing sources, NewsNation reported that the victim may have been a smuggler who was found deceased in a home that may be a “stash house” and was “known to authorities,” NewsNation reported.
According to Fox News, there was a struggle inside the home, and the victim died of blunt force injuries to the head.
Fox News reported that the suspect “was processed by Border Patrol for release with a Notice to Appear (NTA) in court for immigration removal proceedings. That court date was not until 2025. He was transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who released him into the care of a non-governmental organization and enrolled in monitoring via Alternatives to Detention (ATD).”
Eagle Pass, Texas’s Mayor Rolando Salinas Jr. told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth that his community does not have the resources to deal with the surge of migrants across the border. The television station reported that they have numbered in the “tens of thousands.”
The September 18, 2023, disaster declaration was to stay in place for seven days, the television station reported.
READ NEXT: Jimmy Buffett’s Wife, Jane Slagsvol