Jury sees interrogation of Alamo man accused of killing Donna teen

EDINBURG — The 23-year-old Alamo man accused of fatally gunning down a 19-year-old Donna man told investigators the teenager had been shot before they even asked him.

The new detail comes on the sixth day of the trial of Carlos Julian Contreras, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering Genaro Isaiah “Izzy” Castillo on Jan. 14, 2020 near Donna Lake.

The jury on Monday watched a video of Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Lucio Torres interviewing Contreras on the night of the murder.

Torres first asked Contreras, who appeared evasive during the interview conducted just after midnight that day, a couple questions about his friends or whether he had hobbies.

When Torres asked him about Castillo, Contreras, without being prompted, said he had been shot.

During the interview, Contreras also did not say that his girlfriend Miranda Luna, 21, was at the scene of the murder. Last Thursday, Luna claimed she had been at the scene of the murder.

Both Contreras and Luna have pointed the finger at Jorge Veliz, 21, claiming he was the one who shot Castillo. Veliz, who took the stand last Friday, testified that Contreras forced him to place handcuffs on Castillo and that Contreras shot the man.

Veliz initially tried to report the murder to the Alamo Police Department, but he says he was told they couldn’t help him. The next day, Veliz said he heard sheriff’s investigators were looking for him and he voluntarily went to the sheriff’s office to answer questions.

He has not been charged in the case.

During Contreras’ interrogation, he told investigators the only people at the scene of the murder were him, Veliz and Castillo.

Torres told Contreras during the interview that he thought he was leaving out information about the murder.

“Your version isn’t adding up,” Torres told Contreras.

Carlos Julian Contreras is seen during his trial in the 476th state District Court at the Hidalgo County Courthouse on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2025, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | jmartinez@themonitor.com)

The investigator pointed out that Contreras, who claimed he was close with Castillo, also wasn’t crying during the interview.

In a second interview at around 6 a.m., Contreras told Torres that he was going to get set up by his own friends and that he got to them before they got to him.

Then he asked for a lawyer and was charged with murder.

Authorities have said previously that Contreras, who has admitted to being involved in human smuggling, was in a criminal enterprise with Castillo. And prosecutors have brought evidence that there was an issue of jealousy from Contreras about how one of Castillo’s friends had flirted with Luna, his girlfriend.

The trial is scheduled to continue Tuesday morning.

Here’s the latest update:

State, defense rest in trial of Alamo man accused of killing Donna teen

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