Cell phone records and surveillance footage are what led police to the suspected murderer of a transgender woman inside her South-Central apartment last month.

Erykah Tijerina’s lifeless body was found inside her apartment in the 200 block of Lisbon on August 8, just before 8:30 p.m. by her step-father. According to a complaint affidavit, Tijerina’s step-father told investigators that she worked as an escort and had been preparing for a date earlier in the evening. Just hours later, Erykah Tijerina was found dead of multiple stab wounds.

A month after her murder, El Paso Police arrested and charged Fort Bliss Soldier Anthony Michael Bowden with her death.

According to the arrest affidavit, Tijerina’s neighbors described a light-skinned African American man in his early 20’s entering Erykah’s apartment sometime between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. the night of her murder. Investigators obtained warrants for Tijerina’s cell phone records and found multiple calls on the night of her murder, but one number with a Washington state area code indicated that the subscriber was in the area when Tijerna was murdered.

According to court documents, the owner of the cell phone number was identified as Anthony Bowden. Cell phone records showed that Bowden’s phone accessed a tower at 123 Chelsea Blvd. around 7:44 p.m. and another tower located at 408 Kyle St. around 8 p.m. That’s also the same cell tower that Tijerina’s cell accessed at 8:02 p.m.

Police also obtained surveillance footage from several nearby businesses which allegedly showed a blue 1970 Chevrolet El Camino with Washington license plates driving into the area of the apartment complex near the time of the murder.

EPPD investigators met with Bowden at Police Headquarters where he allegedly admitted to having sex with Tijerina, but denied any involvement in her murder. Assisting detectives also met with Bowden’s friend, who told investigators that Bowden admitted to him in a phone call minutes after leaving the scene that he had killed Tijerina.

As a result of the investigation, Bowden was charged with Murder and booked into the El Paso County Detention Center on a $750,000 BOND.