HOUSTON — Daniel Chacon may not be getting out of jail anytime soon after a judge set his bond at $1M Friday morning. She said Chacon is a flight risk with a violent history so she doubled the prosecutor's request for a $500,000 bond.
Chacon, 30, wasn't in court on the kidnapping charge because he waived his right to appear. Police say Chacon kidnapped his ex-girlfriend, Maira Gutierrez, who was found shot to death in her SUV hours later.
They call him the "prime person of interest" in Gutierrez's death.
He spent the night in jail after being tracked to Mexico late Wednesday and brought back here on Thursday. It was welcome news for the victim's family as they prepare to say goodbye at her funeral on Saturday.
"It's great to see him finally caught," Gutierrez's oldest son, 19-year-old Jimmy Puente Jr., told us. "We're all happy and, you know, still shocked, we're on and off, you know what I mean? We got a lot of text messages from a bunch of friends and family and they all texted, 'We got 'em, we got 'em.'"
Gutierrez, a mother of 4, called Pasadena police for help at least twice in September to complain that Chacon had repeatedly assaulted her. The Harris County District Attorney's Office declined charges in both cases, according to police.
Two weeks later, Gutierrez was dead and Chacon was on the run.
The investigation
A charging document obtained by KHOU 11, lays out the case against Chacon.
Witnesses called police the morning of Oct. 3 to report they saw a woman screaming for help while being forced into an SUV at gunpoint.
Investigators quickly identified Chacon as the suspect and learned from apartment management that police had been called to his apartment several times recently about issues with his current girlfriend.
RELATED: Court documents shed new light on kidnapping of Maira Gutierrez allegedly by her ex-boyfriend
Officers said the girlfriend was emotional when they questioned her. She told them Chacon had just called from a fast-food restaurant and asked if police were looking for him. He told her he was "sorry for everything" and hung up.
Chacon then went to an uncle's house to ask for a phone and some clothes. He told his uncle "that he f---ed up." After Chacon left, the uncle called police. When detectives interviewed him, he admitted that Chacon told him on Oct. 2, the day before Gutierrez was killed, "I think I am going to have to kill this girl."
Violent past
Chacon has a history of violence against women, according to court records. His common-law wife told police he assaulted her in 2012 and 2013 and tried to kill her in 2017. Records show Chacon made a deal with prosecutors in the 2017 case and was allowed to plead to a misdemeanor.
The ex-wife told us that Gutierrez reached out to her last month looking for advice. The woman said she told Gutierrez to run from the relationship.
What happened
Gutierrez went to the apartment complex on Red Bluff Road near Beltway 8 Monday morning to see the 6-month-old baby daughter she shares with Chacon. He wasn't at the apartment but the girlfriend said he became angry when he learned Gutierrez was there, so she told her to leave.
Pasadena police responded when witnesses reported the possible abduction. Officers questioned the witnesses, the girlfriend and apartment management.
Around 3 p.m. that afternoon, investigators said Gutierrez's body was found inside her abandoned SUV on Cedar Crest Street, near the intersection of Mykawa Road and the South Loop. The SUV appeared to be run off the road and ditched at some sort of distribution center.
Chacon was charged with kidnapping the following day.
State and federal investigators worked with Pasadena police and the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force to track him to Mexico and bring him back.