Husband Charged With Missing Woman's Murder

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Julie Ann Gonzalez (Courtesy of www.julieanngonzalez.com)

More than three years after Julie Ann Gonzalez disappeared, Austin Police announced today that her estranged husband, George De La Cruz, has been indicted and charged with her murder.

Gonzalez disappeared in March 2010, and was last seen at De La Cruz's South Austin residence. According to De La Cruz, she came over that day to pick up their daughter, of whom they shared custody, but then said that she needed a few more days alone and asked if he could continue to watch the child. Gonzalez has not been seen or heard from since.

Initially, police thought Gonzalez might have disappeared voluntarily, based on text messages sent to her family from her cell phone. But the fact that she never returned, and failed to maintain communication, quickly led her family, and police, to think otherwise. Police executed a search warrant at De La Cruz's home in May 2010 but said they were not able to recover all of the items they thought they would find there.

The case remained cold, at least publicly, until APD announced today that a Travis County grand jury has indicted De La Cruz for murder in connection with Gonzalez's disappearance. According to a press release, De La Cruz was picked up this morning by the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force and is being held on a $500,000 bond.

Notably, the case remains under investigation, and the APD is still asking anyone with information about Gonzalez's disappearance to call the APD homicide tip line at 512/477-3588.