A look back at Michael Yuchnitz, 'San Antonio's very own Joe Exotic'

Michael Yuchnitz, founder of the My Econo $39.95 Optical retail glasses chain. Michael Yuchnitz, founder of the My Econo $39.95 Optical retail glasses chain. Image 1 of / 29 Caption Close A look back at Michael Yuchnitz, 'San Antonio's very own Joe Exotic' 1 / 29 Back to Gallery

There once was a colorful character with flowing hair and a goatee who lost his business and landed in handcuffs after allegedly hiring a hit man.

No, not Joseph Maldonado-Passage, star of Netflix's new docuseries "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness."

His name was Michael Yuchnitz.

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After the success of "Tiger King," one Alamo City resident labeled Yuchnitz "San Antonio's very own Joe Exotic."

The parallels between the pair are striking, from slightly surreal television ads to secret recordings that built murder-for-hire criminal cases.

But Yuchnitz did not deal in big cats. He sold affordable eyeware.

A 20-year veteran of the Air Force, Yuchnitz launched the My Econo's $39.95 Optical chain in the early 1990s in a South Side strip mall. The business eventually grew to include four locations with Yuchnitz pitching his "optical specials" on television.

For his commercials, in which he also promoted his tattoo parlor, Yuchnitz wore flamboyant outfits and sported shoulder-length hair.

In one 1997 advertisement, he puts on a pair of glasses and promises excellent customer service at auctioneer pace but monotone pitch. In another, years later, he emphasizes that he takes care of the people in the neighborhoods around his stores.

"Always have, always will," Yuchnitz said.

In October 2010, Yuchnitz found himself leading the evening news instead of touting his business between segments. He was arrested and charged with hiring someone to arrange to kill his wife. He denied any involvement as police led him out barefoot and in handcuffs.

An informant told police that Yuchnitz agreed to pay $10,000 to have her killed. He even suggested she be shot when she traveled to the East Side for a card game because it could look like a robbery in a high crime area, the arrest affidavit said.

Tina Yuchnitz filed for divorce and a protective order the day police told her about the alleged plot. The couple's divorce trial, which occurred in February of 2012 while Yuchnitz was out on bail awaiting trial for solicitation of capital murder, featured lurid testimony about their relationship.

Statements from a secret recording of him discussing the alleged murder-for-hire plot with the informant were entered into evidence. Yuchnitz invoked his Fifth Amendment right dozens of times when asked to confirm them.

"This is not the first time I've done this," Yuchnitz said, according to a transcript read in court. "No, I don't need him to move the body. I just want him to do it."

During cross-examination of the informant — an employee at the discount eyeware chain whom Yuchnitz had allegedly approached about hiring an assassin — Yuchnitz's attorney suggested that in the secret recordings, the informant wearing a wire seems to be the one pushing for a hit.

"Don't you say about seven times, ‘Go for it'?" he asked.

After two weeks of testimony, a jury decided that each side of the marriage had inflicted severe emotional distress on the other and recommended a judge split their $6 million estate 50-50.

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Tina Yuchnitz, who had been given temporary control of the optical business before the divorce trial, got some of the couple's vehicles and kept My Econo. However, she had to buy the business, valued at the time of trial at about $2.3 million.

Yuchnitz received the house, other vehicles and two retirement accounts.

They split the combined value of their jewelry — including $364,698 of Mike Yuchnitz's baubles — except for certain pieces that remained his and hers. He got to keep his $14,000 earring.

His criminal trial for the murder-for-hire charge was scheduled for March 2014. He would not appear.

On Sept. 14, 2013, a maintenance man discovered Yuchnitz's body in the parking lot of a Northwest Side extended stay hotel. The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office said he died of heart problems related to his lung cancer and ruled it a natural death.

Today, the four My Econo locations remain open. The chain's website makes no mention of its history, beyond saying the stores have been offering affordable eyeware for over 30 years.

But "Tiger King" offered an opportunity to remember the city's own salacious tale.

As Yuchnitz once told the camera, "Hey San Antonio, you know who I am."

Mark Dunphy is a breaking news and general assignment reporter for MySA.com | mark.dunphy@express-news.net | @m_b_dunphy