What initially appeared to be a car crash on a Texas interstate was later discovered to be the scene of a fatal shooting.
KSAT reports that University of the Incarnate Word nursing student, Joseph Banales, was found dead in Selma on April 15, 2023. His vehicle had struck the center concrete median on I-35 near the Forum around 11:45 p.m.
Emergency personnel discovered that Banales had been shot in the head. The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that the gunshot was the cause of death.
On Thursday night, 29-year-old Jacob Daniel Serna was arrested in connection with Banales’ death.
Serna and his then-wife were initially interviewed as witnesses to the accident.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by KSAT, Banales had nearly collided with another car while trying to merge into a different lane. The car in question was described as a dark blue or black sports car with “a loud exhaust system.”
The affidavit stated that the sports car slowed down next to Banales’ passenger side before speeding off at “a high rate of speed.” Shortly after this interaction, Banales’ car crashed.
A year-long investigation led law enforcement to focus more closely on Serna and his wife. According to ABC News, their stories changed over the course of several interviews.
Originally, Serna’s wife claimed she saw a blue sports car, similar in color to their blue Ford Mustang, almost get hit by Banales and then speed off. Serna initially stated that he saw nothing and that his wife had witnessed the accident.
On July 23, 2024, Serna and his now-separated wife were interviewed again. This time, Serna’s wife said that her husband had seen the blue sports car and tried to speed up to get a better look at it, but it was moving too fast. Soon after, the accident occurred. Serna continued to claim he had seen nothing.
When investigators confronted Serna with his wife’s updated account, he adjusted his story to more closely align with hers but provided vague answers and omitted details he should have known.
Serna did inform law enforcement that he had once owned a gun, which he kept in his glove box, but claimed he had since pawned it.
Law enforcement was able to locate Serna’s gun by matching his name to pawn shop records.
On August 14, 2024, the affidavit noted that Serna’s gun had “similar characteristics to the round recovered during the autopsy,” though additional testing was needed.
On Thursday, Serna’s ex-wife was questioned again. This time, she admitted that Serna became irate when Banales almost hit his car, leading him to load his gun, point it at Banales, and then fire. “It just went off, and it scared me,” she said in the affidavit.
After the incident, Serna’s wife made him turn around to check what had happened.
During the investigation, license plate reader databases “revealed only one vehicle matching the description of a blue sports car with a loud exhaust”—Serna’s car, police said, according to KSAT.
On Thursday, Serna was arrested without incident on murder charges and booked into the Bexar County Jail. There was no mention of whether his wife would face charges.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Featured image: Joseph Banales/Handout;Jacob Daniel Serna/Bexar County PD]
