2015-11-12
Area man faces 2 murder charges
Amarillo Globe-News Subscription Offers, Specials, and Discounts
Posted: March 4, 2016 - 6:07pm
| Updated: March 4, 2016 - 10:40pm
Abdon Ponce Jr.
By AARON DAVIS
Abdon Ponce Jr. was indicted earlier this week on charges of capital murder in the stabbing deaths of Ada Ponce and Fernando Cornejo in Lipscomb and Hansford counties in November.
Abdon Ponce’s case was brought before a grand jury Wednesday in 31st District Court, court records show, and enough justification was found to make a formal accusation of capital murder of multiple persons.
The charge of capital murder requires the district attorney’s office to prove that the two homicides were committed during the “same scheme or course of conduct” according to the Texas Penal Code. The minimum punishment is life imprisonment, and the maximum punishment is death.
Abdon Ponce, 38, of Perryton, was the target of a wide-ranging manhunt after Ada Ponce, 58, and Cornejo, 34, both of Booker, were found stabbed to death Nov. 13. The indictment alleges Ponce committed the offense Nov. 12.
Abdon Ponce was arrested Nov. 14 after a manhunt by Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and the sheriff’s offices in Hansford and Hutchinson counties. Sunray schools were on modified lockdown on Nov. 13 during the manhunt.
Ponce has previously been convicted of multiple offenses, including terroristic threat, burglary, theft, assault of a family member causing bodily injury and interfering with an emergency request for assistance, records show.
Four calls and messages to the 31st District Attorney’s Office in Lipscomb County, starting from 8 a.m. and ending at 3:30 p.m., went unanswered by press time.