Prosecutors in Bexar County, Texas, have charged 32-year-old Abigail Molina with first-degree murder after her boyfriend, 64-year-old Gilbert Parker, was found gravely injured in a church shed and later died. Molina has told police it was self-defense, while investigators describe a deliberate killing followed by efforts to erase evidence.
TLDR
Prosecutors in Bexar County, Texas, have charged Abigail Molina, 32, with first-degree murder, theft, and evidence tampering in the hammer death of her boyfriend, 64-year-old Gilbert Parker, after he was found gravely injured at a China Grove church and later died.
Discovery in a Church Shed
According to Law & Crime, China Grove police were called to Old Path Baptist Church, just east of San Antonio, on January 18th, 2026. Parker was found in a garden shed that had been set up as his living quarters, unconscious, partially unclothed, and covered in what appeared to be dried blood.
An affidavit described the shed as a makeshift residence, with blood inside and on Parker. Witnesses called emergency responders and the China Grove Police Department, and Parker was taken first to a local hospital, then transferred to another facility. He reportedly drifted in and out of consciousness but was unable to communicate with medical staff or investigators.
Parker was pronounced dead on January 20th, 2026. A medical examiner noted multiple head lacerations and at least one blow that fractured his skull and caused bleeding inside his brain, according to court documents cited by Law & Crime and local outlet KSAT. Those findings are central to the state’s theory that a construction hammer was used as the weapon.
Self-Defense Claim Emerges as Investigators Build Their Case
The day after Parker was found, Molina contacted China Grove police. Authorities say she told officers that she had nothing to hide and that Parker’s hospitalization resulted from an act of self-defense during an altercation between the two. It is not clear from publicly available records whether investigators had already been seeking her.
In statements summarized in the affidavit, Molina described a volatile relationship. Investigators also interviewed someone who said Parker and Molina had been dating but were “in different places in the relationship,” with Parker portrayed as more invested and possessive. That person reported previous arguments between the couple, according to KSAT.
Despite Molina’s assertion that she acted to protect herself, prosecutors allege a different sequence of events. Court records reviewed by Law & Crime show that Molina is charged with first-degree murder, theft, and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence with intent to impair its use in an investigation. She is being held in the Bexar County Adult Detention Center.
Texas law allows the use of deadly force in self-defense under limited circumstances, including when a person reasonably believes such force is immediately necessary to protect against another’s unlawful deadly force. Whether Molina’s account meets that standard, and how it fits with the physical and circumstantial evidence, will be a core question for any future jury.
Tips Lead Officers to Missing Truck and Hammer
As investigators pieced together Parker’s final days, they focused on several missing items. According to KSAT, Parker owned a cellphone, a wallet, and a 2002 Dodge Dakota pickup truck that could not be found after he was taken from the church grounds. The affidavit also states that some church members went into the shed and cleaned up blood and items belonging to Parker, including what was described as drug evidence. Authorities have not publicly announced any charges related to that alleged cleanup.
On the day Parker died, his pickup was reportedly seen near the home of a close friend of Molina. Investigators allege that Molina tried to alter and dispose of the truck. According to the affidavit, she attempted to spray-paint and sand the vehicle, had blood stains removed at a car wash, and later sold the truck in Houston for $300. Those allegations form part of the evidence-tampering and theft counts.
On February 1st, 2026, a caller who said their cousin had dated Molina contacted a San Antonio Police Department homicide detective, KSAT reported. That caller claimed a fight between Molina and Parker at a local smoke shop had escalated into a killing. The next day, another person called and directed detectives to a stormwater drainage culvert, saying the murder weapon had been discarded there.
Officers searching the culvert recovered a construction hammer with a missing claw. The affidavit states that the missing claw was consistent with the nature of Parker’s skull injury. Forensic testing results on the hammer, if any, have not been publicly detailed, but its recovery appears to be a key link between the alleged weapon and the fatal wounds.
Conflicting Accounts of Violence Inside the Relationship
Law enforcement also interviewed one of Molina’s ex-boyfriends. According to the affidavit, he told investigators that Molina called him on January 15th, 2026, crying and asking for help. She allegedly said Parker had hit her, that she had “blacked out,” and that she struck him repeatedly with a hammer.
That reported statement cuts in two directions. It appears to support Molina’s claim that Parker was physically aggressive toward her, yet it also describes repeated blows with a hammer, followed by Parker being found days later, gravely injured and left in a shed. Prosecutors are likely to argue that the description of multiple strikes and the time gap undercut any claim that only necessary defensive force was used.
Molina, according to the affidavit cited by Law & Crime, gave “vague and scattered details” about her relationship with Parker when interviewed by investigators. She reportedly said that the last time she saw him was January 13th, 2026, at a smoke shop where the two argued, but she declined to describe that confrontation in detail.
At this stage, Molina has been charged but not convicted. She is entitled to a presumption of innocence, and her legal team has not yet publicly outlined a full defense theory beyond the early reference to self-defense described by police.
Legal Stakes and Next Steps
In Texas, murder is generally a first-degree felony. A conviction can carry a sentence ranging from 5 to 99 years, or life in prison, along with a possible fine up to $10,000. The evidence-tampering and theft charges add additional exposure and may give prosecutors leverage in any plea discussions.
The case began with a probable cause affidavit that allowed police to arrest and jail Molina. It is expected to move through a grand jury review, where jurors will decide whether to hand up a formal indictment. If indicted, Molina would be arraigned and could enter a plea, followed by pretrial hearings on what evidence would be allowed at trial.
Any future proceedings are likely to focus on several contested points. Those include how many times Parker was struck, whether the pattern of injuries matches Molina’s reported “blacking out,” why Parker was left in a shed at a church rather than taken directly for medical care, and what inference, if any, should be drawn from the allegations of vehicle cleaning and disposal of the hammer.
The affidavit’s claim that some church members cleaned the shed and removed possible drug evidence raises additional questions. Authorities have not said whether that alleged cleanup was an attempt to help Molina, to protect the church from scrutiny, or for some other reason. As of now, those individuals have not been publicly charged in connection with the homicide.
A Life Ended in a Makeshift Home
Parker’s killing also highlights the precarious living situation that preceded his death. According to the affidavit, he was residing in a small shed on church property that had been “fabricated to be his living quarters.” His obituary described him as a “man full of life and music,” offering a glimpse of a fuller life that stretched beyond the crime scene described in court records.
For now, many of the most important details remain contested or incomplete. What exactly happened between the reported smoke shop argument, the phone call Molina allegedly made to her ex-boyfriend, and the moment Parker was discovered in the shed has not been fully established in public records. Whether Molina’s claim of self-defense can be reconciled with the physical evidence, the alleged cleanup, and the recovered hammer will be decided not by investigators’ affidavits, but in a courtroom.
