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A woman who, with her girlfriend, suffocated an 84-year-old man in San Antonio in March and who set his body on fire was arrested earlier this month in Fort Worth, police said.
Fort Worth police fugitive unit officers were involved in the Oct. 1 arrest of Leidy Hernandez.
Hernandez, 43, and Ulani Nunes, 23 are accused of suffocating Manuel Mendez in order to take his money three days before his body was found wrapped in a shower curtain, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
Hernandez and Nunes were charged with capital murder and, in a separate case, with aggravated robbery.
Firefighters on March 28 extinguished a fire and found Mendez’s body in a ditch, according to a record that the Express-News reviewed. His hands and legs were bound, duct tape covered his face, and his body was burned and showed signs of decomposition, according to the record.
Mendez was wrapped in a shower curtain, a bed skirt, ropes and wires, according to the record cited in the Express-News report. A melted plastic tub and a metal dolly were nearby.
Nunes told detectives that she and Hernandez saw Mendez at an H-E-B grocery store on March 25. Hernandez had previously worked for Mendez and knew he rented rooms on his property, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. The women negotiated a lease and arranged to meet him at his home.
After Mendez left the store, Nunes said, the women planned to kill him and take his money, according to the Express-News report.
Nunes told a detective that the women attacked Mendez upstairs, held him down and used tape, towels and other items to cover his nose and mouth and suffocate him, the newspaper reported. He pleaded for his life, she said. Nunes said it took about 30 minutes for him to die and that she helped hold him down.
Nunes said the women took Mendez’s wallet and found his checks, according to the Express-News report. She said they tried on March 25 and 26 to cash checks forged in Nunes’ name, then stayed at Mendez’s property for several days while deciding what to do with his body.
Nunes said that on March 28, because of the smell, they put Mendez in a tote, covered him with towels and clothing, and used a cart to move him to a wooded area, according to the Express-News.
Nunes said that Hernandez used a lighter and paper to set Mendez’s body on fire, according to the affidavit cited in the newspaper’s report.
After what San Antonio police said was a separate aggravated robbery on April 7, Hernandez and Nunes were stopped in Fort Worth in a stolen vehicle.
This story was originally published October 12, 2026 at 11:52 AM.
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Emerson Clarridge covers crime and other breaking news for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He works days and reports on law enforcement affairs in Tarrant County. He previously was a reporter at the Omaha World-Herald and the Observer-Dispatch in Utica, New York.