San Antonio police say an arrest affidavit details how two women allegedly tied up an 84-year-old Southeast Side landlord inside his home, held him down, and covered his face until he died, then moved his body and set it on fire. Ulani Mable Nunes, 23, and Leidy Guadalupe Hernandez, 43, each face a capital murder charge in the death of Manuel Mendez, also identified in some records as Manuel Gomez Mendez Jr. The allegations remain unproven.

Neither woman has been convicted, and the claims rest largely on a confession investigators attribute to Nunes and on supporting records described in court documents. Firefighters found Mendez’s body on March 28 in a ditch in the 1500 block of Rigsby Avenue after responding to a small fire noticed by a passerby. Court records state his hands and legs were bound, duct tape covered his face, and the body was burned and showed signs of decomposition.

It was wrapped in a shower curtain along with other materials including a bed skirt, ropes, and wires. A melted plastic tub and a metal dolly were nearby. The location was less than a mile from a property on Chickering Avenue where investigators say the killing occurred. According to affidavits supporting the arrests, Nunes waived her rights and gave detectives a full account.

She told them she and Hernandez saw Mendez at an H-E-B on March 25. Hernandez had previously worked for him and knew he rented rooms. The women negotiated a lease and arranged to meet him at the Chickering Avenue property under the pretense of renting. After Mendez left the store, Nunes said, they decided to kill him and take his money.

They bought binding materials at a Home Depot and took a bus to the house. Once inside, the affidavit states, the women tied Mendez’s hands and feet. They held him down and covered his nose and mouth with tape, towels, and other items. Nunes told detectives it took about 30 minutes for him to die and that she helped hold him down while he pleaded for his life.

Investigators say the women then took his wallet and checks and later tried to cash checks forged in Nunes’ name. When detectives asked why they killed him instead of only robbing him, Nunes replied, according to the affidavit, that they could get more money. Nunes also described staying at the property for several days. Because of the smell, she said, they placed the body in a tote, covered it with towels and clothing, and used a cart to move it to a wooded area.

Hernandez then set the body on fire with a lighter and paper, according to the account Nunes gave police. Hernandez kept Mendez’s phone for a time before discarding it, Nunes said. Neighbors described the two women as being in a relationship. Investigators cite additional evidence linking both women to the scene and the disposal site.

Family members using a phone tracking app noticed unusual stops involving Mendez on March 25. Security footage showed two women coming and going from the home and later pushing a tote near the spot where the body was found. Phone records showed repeated calls to Mendez from a number tied to Hernandez, and location data placed that phone near the home around the time he disappeared.

Two of Mendez’s identification cards and his Social Security card were recovered from a vehicle the women were using when they were stopped in Fort Worth in connection with a separate case. That later case involved an aggravated robbery of another elderly landlord who was tied up, a pattern police say raised suspicion. Both women also face aggravated robbery charges in that matter. Nunes had been in custody since July on the robbery case and was transferred to the Bexar County jail.

A judge set her bail at $1.1 million. Hernandez was arrested Thursday in Fort Worth and remained in the Tarrant County jail as of Friday, with no bail set at that time. Texas law classifies an intentional murder committed in the course of robbery or certain other felonies, including specified terroristic threats, as capital murder. That is the charge filed against both women.

Capital murder carries a possible sentence of life without parole or, if prosecutors seek it and a jury agrees, the death penalty. No trial date or further hearing schedule has been publicly detailed beyond the bail rulings. Official medical examiner findings on the precise cause and manner of death have not been released in the available reports. The account of the struggle inside the home, the duration of the suffocation, and the stated motive come from the affidavit and the confession investigators attribute to Nunes.

Those statements have not been tested in court.