HOUSTON – A 19-year-old man wanted in a November 2017 slaying turned himself in Friday, 13 months after the killing and seven months after a Harris County grand jury indicted him on a murder charge.
Bryan Alfonso Ordonez-Green surrendered to Harris County authorities and was booked into the Harris County jail on a $40,000 bond.
Ordonez-Green is accused of gunning down 18-year-old Blake Thomas, a Nimitz High School student, in a Greenspoint apartment complex.
"He was just a magnificent soul, he really was," said Thomas' father, Emmanuel.
Channel 2 first profiled Emmanuel Thomas on "Spencer Solves It" in December when we learned of his efforts to buy a headstone for his son's grave by washing cars.
Bill's Brigade was able to connect the family with a local company that is working on a headstone memorial that will be ready this summer.
READ: 'Spencer Solves It': A father's mission to get a headstone for his late son
But Emmanuel was still living with the pain of knowing no one was in custody in his son's death until now.
In July 2018, a grand jury indicted Ordonez-Green on a murder charge. According to court documents filed by his defense attorney, Ordonez-Green, who was on probation at the time for a theft conviction, was receiving threats and asked a judge to allow him to move to California to "work and study without fear or retaliation."
The filing from defense attorney Marc Carter also claims that "when the defendant learned of the warrant for his arrest he returned to Houston and voluntarily surrendered to this court"
A judge gave Ordonez-Green a $40,000 bond. Thomas said it is far too low for a murder charge.
"For him to have taken this long for him to turn himself in, I don't understand why any judge would give him bond on that," Thomas said.
The $40,000 bond is $10,000 higher than what the defense requested from the judge.
In a statement to Channel 2 News, Dane Schiller, a spokesman for the Harris County District Attorney's Office, said, "It is unclear if the prosecution audibly asked for a higher bond, but the court file does not make a notation on the record whether the state weighed in or not. "
Thomas said despite his disappointment over the low bond, he is glad that someone is in custody, putting his family closer to the justice they seek.
"I just want to know why. I want him to tell me the truth if you did this be a man about what you did and tell everything," Thomas said.
There is a GoFundMe account set up to help with expenses for a planned summer celebration of life for Blake when his headstone is complete. You can donate here: DONATE