Texas man arrested several years after his girlfriend’s remains were found in burn pit

SAN ANTONIO (TCD) -- A 43-year-old man was recently arrested after allegedly killing his 37-year-old girlfriend in 2019.

According to Atascosa County Sheriff David Soward, in April 2019, Tiffany Garza was reported missing by her mother. Several months later, in July 2019, Soward said investigators "obtained an audio recording where it was said that Tiffany had been murdered at 615 Bocawood in the Shalimar Subdivision, north of Poteet."

On July 14, 15, and 16, 2019, authorities reportedly searched the home and located blood evidence from two individuals, as well as human bones and bone fragments in a burn pit behind the residence. The bones and bone fragments were sent to Texas State University, but officials were unable to recover any DNA, Soward said. However, through the analysis, Soward said it was determined that the victim was a female around Garza’s age.

The blood evidence was further tested, and investigators reportedly discovered that Garza’s mother was a match. Soward said, "The blood evidence was then compared to the DNA of Tiffany’s child, which was also a match that proved to investigators that the blood found at the residence was in fact from Tiffany Garza."

Officials reportedly concluded that Garza was slain sometime between late March 2019 and early April 2019.

That same year, the suspect was interviewed after an unrelated arrest, but he denied knowing anything about Garza’s death or disappearance.

Several years later, on March 15, 2023, Garza’s boyfriend, Jeffrey Devorah, was arrested on suspicion of her murder and booked into the Atascosa County Jail on $500,000 bond.

MORE:

• Arrest Made in 2019 Murder — Atascosa County Sheriff David Soward