Stephen Bailey, 26, was arrested on Friday, September 23, for the September 18 shooting death of Elmendorf resident Mark Anthony Ortega, 42.
Stephen Richard Bailey reportedly was so disgusted with all the blood he got on himself after allegedly killing his Elmendorf neighbor that he wouldn't get out of the shower for 45 minutes, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
When questioned by investigators, Bailey, 26, denied any involvement in the Sept. 18 killing of Mark Anthony Ortega, 42, the affidavit said.
Ortega, a singer and aviator, was found shot to death in the bathroom of an aircraft hangar he leased near his house in the 14600 block of Cassiano Road. Friends and former bandmates said they could not imagine why anyone would want to kill him.
But Ortega and Bailey were in an ongoing dispute and had exchanged shots at various times, according to one witness who said he didn't know how the feud started, according to the affidavit.
Authorities arrested Bailey near La Vernia in Wilson County shortly after midnight Friday, when authorities got an anonymous tip about his whereabouts, said Bexar County Sheriff's Sgt. Ray Pollard.
Bailey was charged with murder, and bail was set at $100,000.
Ortega's wife, Edna, said her husband had argued with Bailey about him coming onto their land without permission, the affidavit said. Bailey admitted to shooting at a man named Mark the day before Ortega was killed, the affidavit said.
Ortega was shot more than a dozen times with a small-caliber handgun or rifle, officials said. Edna Ortega found him in the shower of the hangar's bathroom.
“I need to get my guns and 4-wheeler to sell them for money to live on,” a witness overheard Bailey tell his girlfriend two days after the shooting, according to the document. “I need to turn myself in. They are going to come and get me.”
Multiple .22-caliber shell casings recovered in the hangar bathroom and just outside were similar to those found during a search of Bailey's home. Officers also found an ammunition magazine and some clothing had been set on fire in Bailey's bathtub in what appeared to be an attempt to destroy evidence, the affidavit said.
Authorities believed they would be able to match the casings at the scene and Bailey's home to a .22-caliber Ruger rifle sold to Bailey about a month earlier by his girlfriend's brother.
Ortega was a charismatic man who was a “kid at heart,” his wife said. He was a former lead vocalist for Tejano hitmakers David Lee Garza y los Musicales, and father of one son, Mark Matthew Palacios Ortega, 13.
“It's been hard on everybody,” Edna Ortega said in a Saturday interview. “I would do anything to have him back.”
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