Affidavit: Teens beat woman with baseball bat, then slit her throat with kitchen knife

Daniel Saucedo, 18, now faces a charge of capital murder in the death of Mary Dempsey. Dempsey's son, Matthew, was arrested Tuesday in connection to her death. Daniel Saucedo, 18, now faces a charge of capital murder in the death of Mary Dempsey. Dempsey's son, Matthew, was arrested Tuesday in connection to her death. Photo: San Antonio Police Department Photo: San Antonio Police Department Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close Affidavit: Teens beat woman with baseball bat, then slit her throat with kitchen knife 1 / 14 Back to Gallery

Two teenagers beat a 53-year-old woman, who was the mother of one of the suspects, with baseball bats and slit her throat after she walked in on them burglarizing her West Side home, according to court records.

Daniel Saucedo, 18, and Matthew Dempsey, 18, are facing capital murder charges in the death of Mary Helen Dempsey, Matthew Dempsey's mother. Both were booked into the Bexar County Jail on $1 million bails.

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According to an arrest affidavit for Saucedo, Dempsey confessed to killing his mother with Saucedo's help. Dempsey told investigators that he and Saucedo went to his mother's home in the 7500 block of Stagecoach Lane sometime Monday night or early Tuesday morning, police said.

They entered with a key and began "gathering items they were going to take from the home," the affidavit says. Dempsey was armed with a loaded gun at the time, authorities said.

As they were rounding up their haul, Mary Dempsey returned home. She turned on the lights, and her son immediately attacked her from behind with a bat, the affidavit says. Saucedo then joined in and beat her with a bat, according to police.

Dempsey confessed to investigators that they then got a knife from the kitchen and slit his mother's throat. He gave Saucedo some duct tape to bind her and then covered her with a blanket from his mother's bedroom, the affidavit says.

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The two suspects then went through her wallet and loaded the stolen items into her car. Saucedo left in Mary Dempsey's car, and they later withdrew money from her account at an ATM, according to the affidavit.

Tuesday morning, Mary Dempsey didn't show up to work. Her employer couldn't reach her by phone, so they notified Dempsey's daughter. The daughter went to the home on Stagecoach Lane and noticed her mom's car was missing.

She found the front door unlocked, according to the affidavit, and saw the home had been "ransacked." She then saw the blanket covering something in the living room. She "stepped closer to the blanket and saw it was covering a person and saw a pool of blood," the affidavit says.

The woman called 911. Authorities pronounced Mary Dempsey dead at the scene, and investigators began questioning neighbors in the area.

"A canvass was conducted and information was obtained that two males were seen leaving the victim's home on the night of 4-8-2019 and the morning of 4-9-2019," Det. Lawrence Saiz wrote in the affidavit.

Detectives began to suspect Dempsey may have been involved in his mother's death and they visited his mobile home in the 7600 block of West Military Drive, where Saiz found a trash bag with bloody clothes inside, according to the affidavit.

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Later, when Dempsey and his girlfriend returned to their mobile home, police arrested both and began interviewing them. Dempsey's girlfriend told police he had confessed to killing his mother with Saucedo, and Dempsey himself allegedly confessed to the slaying, the affidavit says.

Investigators charged him with capital murder and obtained an arrest warrant for Saucedo on the same charge. Saucedo has since been taken into custody.

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Caleb Downs covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our breaking news site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com |

cdowns@mysa.com | @calebjdowns