GUILTY TX - Dawanna Thomas, 18, pregnant, San Antonio, 15 Feb 2015

A San Antonio family is fearing the worst after a burned body was found on the city's East Side the same day a loved one went missing. The body was discovered near a bridge by firefighters around 9 p.m. Saturday at Schuwirth Road near FM 1346.

Daywanna Thomas, 18, has been missing since Saturday. Family members fear the body may be that of Thomas, who was pregnant.

"We are out here looking at this crime scene. We got information that my little sister, she was missing and she was burnt," said Ashley Cunningham, Thomas' sister.

Click to expand...

The body of a woman who was found Saturday night while Gardendale crews were battling a grass fire on the far East Side of San Antonio has been identified as Dawanna Deshay Thomas, 18, according to the Bexar County medical examiner's office...

The medical examiner's office ruled the cause of death as homicidal violence and the sheriff's office is handling the case as a homicide.

Click to expand...

stx722 said:

http://www.ksat.com/content/pns/ksa...owned--tried-to-burn-pregnant-girlfriend.html

BF charged with capital murder – multiple persons.

Click to expand...

According to Bexar County Sheriff's Office spokesman James Keith, Courtney Hyriease Velasques was arrested without incident in the 900 block of Upland Road.

According to witnesses, Velasques admitted to drowning Dawanna Thomas in Salado Creek off Rittiman Road before he tried to burn her body on Schuwirth Road near FM 1346 on Feb. 14, Keith said.

Click to expand...

Thomas' mother told Eyewitness News her daughter feared for her life.

"(Velasquez) didn't want nothing to do with the baby. He kept calling me saying he wanted to get an abortion. I said we don't believe in abortion. I said my baby is going to have the baby," said the mother.

According to the affidavit, Velasquez's relatives came forward to police. A family member told detectives that he picked up Velasquez near a fast food restaurant near Rittiman Road and Highway 35 and that Velasquez' pants were "wet." The relatives then told police that Velasquez said, "I can't believe I did it," "I killed her" and "I drowned her at the creek"...

Click to expand...

Family members and friends of Dawanna Thomas gathered Sunday afternoon under the bridge at Salado Creek, where they held a balloon memorial for her.

Thomas was pregnant when she was found dead a year ago.

"I told my daughter that he was a bad person, but (you) can't tell a teenager anything," Bedford said. "(You) have to let them find out, just like my mom had to let me find my way."

Click to expand...

Thomas' mother also issued a warning to other women who might be in an abusive relationship.

"Don't be afraid to speak up when a man is hitting you, or whoever's abusing you," Bedford said.

Click to expand...

A San Antonio man will spend the rest of his life in prison after admitting, in a plea deal with prosecutors, he drowned his pregnant girlfriend last year then burned her body in a rural east Bexar County field.

Courtney Velasques, 21, avoided the death penalty Friday as part of the plea agreement for murdering Dawanna Thomas, 18, and their unborn child on Valentine's Day 2015.

Velasques is not eligible to appeal his life sentence, the Bexar County District Attorney's Office confirmed Tuesday.

Click to expand...

Despite everything, Bedford does say she is satisfied with the plea. "I'm satisfied with him being in prison, and he'll die in prison."

What Bedford says she's not at peace with is she believes others may have also been involved.

"I'm asking deep down in my heart that they find the rest of them, because if not I might lose my mind."

Bedford says one day she'd like to have a face to face conversation with her daughter's killer and ask him why.

Click to expand...