HAYWARD — Just 30 days after he received probation and house arrest for shooting up a parked car, a Hayward resident has been charged with murdering his dad and dumping the body in a Union City dumpster, court records show.
David Sanchez, 25, allegedly tried to cover up the crime by texting his father’s family members and employers. But he wasn’t quite fast enough for police, who say they searched the home where the father and son lived, discovering a bloody crime scene, expended shell casings and evidence that Sanchez was plotting to dig a deep hole somewhere.
The victim has been identified as 58-year-old Hector Sanchez. Court records say that David and Hector lived together, in part because David was on house arrest.
The homicide occurred exactly one month after David Sanchez finalized a plea deal with Alameda County prosecutors, whereby he received a six-month house arrest term and one year of probation after pleading no contest to possessing a gun in public.
In that case, Sanchez allegedly fired at a parked car in Hayward on July 29 in “an industrial part of the city,” according to court records. On the way to jail, Sanchez told police he did it out of anger. He was charged with discharging a gun in public, shooting a gun at an occupied car and two gun possession counts, but everything except a single gun charge was dropped through the plea deal, records show.
When he was arrested on suspicion of murder, David Sanchez allegedly confessed again, this time telling investigators that his father had lost the will to live and requested to be murdered, according to court records. Sanchez also said he planned to honor his father’s request to be buried near Lake Berryessa, but at the last minute he changed course, deciding instead to simply dump the body in a dumpster in Union City, where police found it.
Sanchez has been charged with murder, and is in Santa Rita Jail on a no-bail hold, court records show.
Police began investigating the incident on Oct. 23, when family members reported that Hector Sanchez wasn’t answering calls and hadn’t shown up for work. Later that day, his loved ones said they received texts from his phone explaining he had been “running errands” all day, but they didn’t believe the texts were truly written by him.
David Sanchez also allegedly texted family members. He reportedly told one relative he had a job interview and that he loved her, but then declined to pick up when she called him.
According to police, Hector Sanchez was already dead when the messages were sent. Hayward investigators searched the Sanchez family home on American Avenue, and found clear evidence that a homicide occurred. This included not just a large pool of blood but an expended shell casing and bullet fragments, bloody clothes and weapons, according to court records.
They also found blood inside a family pickup truck, indicating that’s how Hector Sanchez’s body was moved, according to police. When police caught up with David Sanchez, he allegedly confessed and agreed to take police to the body.
Then came the final gruesome twist.
When authorities found the location in Union City where David Sanchez allegedly dumped his dad’s body, there was a pool of blood on the ground, but the dumpster was missing. The officers located the dumpster inside a nearby warehouse, on private property, and called someone associated with the business. They checked the dumpster, confirmed human remains were inside, and allowed the coroner to come collect Hector Sanchez’s body, according to police.