SAN ANTONIO — For nearly two years, Petra Zamora has awaited answers in her daughter's murder case. A step toward clarity came last week when San Antonio police announced a person of interest in her daughter's death: 24-year-old Alexander Joshua Michelson.
Michelson, a fugitive who is charged in two separate sexual assault cases, was there the night Zamora's daughter, 20-year-old Mia Lutzenberger, was slain, according to Zamora.
Immediately following the Oct. 2018 slaying, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said Lutzenberger was at the park with four other people —two women and two men. McManus said none of their stories added up.
The same has remained true nearly two years later, Zamora said. None of the people there the night her daughter died have contacted her attempting to share details of what happened.
"They said they happened to be on the trail walking, and apparently they were attacked and Mia's two friends were knocked unconscious," Zamora said. "And when they awoke, they found Mia hurt. And when police arrived, it was Mia's two friends plus those two guys.”
Zamora said none of the people in the group had injuries consistent with their story — or injuries at all, for that matter.
"Since day one, I've been asking if we can get all four of their faces out there, because I just feel like, if they didn't have help from family and friends for so long, then maybe they would come out and confess or will just speed things up a little bit," Zamora said, calling SAPD's announcement "a move in the right the right direction for now."
"My daughter was murdered. They need to answer for what they did," Zamora said.
Zamora said she recalled her last conversation with her daughter. She said all she knew was that Lutzenberger was going to stay over at a known friend's house. Zamora told her daughter to be safe with their conversation ending in "I love you."
The next morning, she got the news.
"Not knowing why this happened just adds to that hurt and weight," Zamora said. "It's just it's unbearable at times, but we just gotta keep pushing forward."
Zamora said the homicide detective on the case checks in with her every two weeks, and they've not given up hope on catching the person or people responsible for killing her daughter.
Police have so far have only identified Michelson as a person of interest in Lutzenberger's murder. He's wanted on an unrelated aggravated sexual assault charge from an incident in 2017 and a separate sexual assault case, details of which were not immediately clear.
Michelson told his victim he was a serial killer who hid bodies under his home and in the woods of Seguin, records say
Court documents from Michelson's aggravated sexual assault case allege the assault happened May of 2017. According to a warrant, Michelson was perched on his refrigerator when the victim entered Michelson's home. When she tried to go back to her car, the warrant states Michelson jumped down from the refrigerator and placed a bowl over her keys and phone and locked the door, preventing her from leaving.
The warrant states Michelson bit the victim, telling her he would kill her if she screamed, then sexually assaulted her. The victim told police that Michelson later picked up a piece of a broken mirror and began scraping it over her chest, asking her, "What if I carved my name across your chest?"
According to court documents, Michelson sexually assaulted the victim again, then told her to leave.
The victim told police two days before she was sexually assaulted, Michelson told her he was a serial killer, though she thought he was bluffing, according to a warrant. Records state the victim also told police Michelson had also told her he had killed other people, including a friend, and had buried their bodies in the forest of Seguin, Texas. According to the warrant, Michelson previously told the victim he had killed a woman, placed her body under his mobile home and asked if the victim wanted to go under his mobile home to see it, but the victim wrote his claims off as fictitious stories until the sexual assault.
Authorities searched under Michelson's old trailer in May 2019 and did not find human remains, the warrant states. Though, many of the details the victim provided law enforcement of the sexual assault were corroborated by marks on the victim and at the trailer where the sexual assault is alleged to have occurred.
Michelson was arrested for aggravated sexual assault Oct. 4, 2019 and was released from jail on bond in November 2019. Records show he is now wanted on warrants stemming from the aggravated sexual assault case, as well as a new warrant for a separate sexual assault.
"The longer he's out there, the more desperate he becomes," Zamora said. "I believe that there will be another victim if he's left on the streets."
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call San Antonio police at 210-207-7635.