NewsWest 9
HOWARD COUNTY - The mother of a Big Spring man charged with murder is speaking out about his "unjustified" arrest.
Fabian Carpenter, 28, was arrested in Fort Worth on March 15 and transported to Howard County in connection to the death of Roy Cervantes.
Cervantes, who Carpenter's mother describes as a "longtime family friend," was hit by a train the previous week at FM 700 and Interstate 20. Autopsy results later revealed he had been shot multiple times before being left on the railroad tracks.
"They're barking up the wrong tree," insisted Carpenter's mother, Irene Talamantez. "They have the wrong person."
She told NewsWest 9 her son qualified as "disabled" and would not have been physically capable of killing another man.
"Fabian has had three back surgeries," said Talamantez. "There's no way that he could have lifted a dead body himself and put it on the train tracks and whatever else they say he did. There's just no way. He can't even carry his five-year-old because his stomach is still very tender from that last surgery."
She also claimed a lack of forensic evidence supported her belief that Carpenter was innocent.
"[Investigators] say this master bedroom [in his Big Spring residence] is the murder scene? There's no blood on the mattress, there's no blood on the box springs, there's no blood on the carpet, there's no blood anywhere."
The murder was investigated by the Howard County Sheriff's Office and Texas Rangers.
Investigators were not available for comment. It's unclear if they believe furniture in Carpenter's home had been cleaned following the alleged shooting.
At least two sections of plaster had been removed from his bedroom walls, in addition to squares of fabric from his mattress.
According to Talamantez, Sheriff's detectives had taken it as evidence during their initial investigation.
