2012-12-19 Arthur Street

1618 South Arthur Street shooting

The 1618 South Arthur Street shooting was a fatal shooting that occurred late on December 19, 2012, at a house in east Amarillo, Potter County, Texas. A man and woman returned home to find armed intruders inside; a struggle ensued in which one of the intruders, 26-year-old Leonard Torres, was shot and killed, and the male resident was wounded. The case was investigated by the Potter-Randall Special Crimes Unit as an attempted robbery gone wrong. Three people — Tony Michael Spangler, his sister Memorie Denise Spangler, and Ashley Grace Arce-Bitela — were ultimately arrested and indicted on murder charges in connection with Torres's death, under Texas's law of parties/felony murder doctrine, since Torres died during the commission of the robbery the group allegedly planned. All three murder charges were later dismissed in 2014 as part of an apparent negotiated plea agreement, and each defendant instead pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of robbery. Tony Spangler received a 28-year prison sentence^[1]

Background

The residence at 1618 S. Arthur St. was owned by Leroy D. Hernandez, according to Potter-Randall Appraisal District records, though it was occupied by a couple whose names were not released to the press^[2]

Tony Michael Spangler, one of the men later charged in the case, had a prior criminal record: in November 2010 he pleaded guilty to a second-degree felony charge of manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance (1–4 grams), a state jail felony theft of a firearm, and a second-degree felony burglary of a habitation. He was sentenced to four years in prison and released on parole on July 24, 2012 — less than five months before the shooting^[2:1]

The shooting

At approximately 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 19, 2012, a couple returned to their house at 1618 S. Arthur St. and discovered armed intruders already inside. Shots were fired during the confrontation, wounding the male resident. The couple fled the house to a vehicle parked outside and called police, with the woman reporting that her boyfriend had been shot and that intruders remained inside.^[3]

Police received the initial call around 11:40 p.m. and arrived roughly ten minutes later, finding the couple waiting in their vehicle outside. Officers searched the residence and found Leonard Torres, 26, dead inside from what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the upper body.^[4]

The male resident was transported by ambulance to a local hospital with injuries described as not life-threatening.

By around 11:50 p.m., at least eight Amarillo Police Department vehicles, an ambulance, and a fire truck lined both sides of South Arthur Street. Police cordoned off the front yard with crime scene tape, though the street itself remained open to traffic. Potter-Randall Special Crimes Unit investigators arrived at the scene at approximately 12:40–12:48 a.m. on December 20 to begin their investigation. ^[5]

Special Crimes Unit coordinator Lt. Erick Bohannon declined to say publicly how many shots were fired, whether the residents were armed or had fired shots themselves, or whether the incident began as a home invasion robbery, citing the ongoing investigation. Police did not allow the couple to return to the house while the investigation continued.^[6]

An autopsy on Torres was ordered by Justice of the Peace Debbie Horn and scheduled for Friday, December 21, in Lubbock, Texas.

Investigation and arrests

Arrest of Tony Michael Spangler

Using information pieced together during the investigation, Special Crimes Unit investigators identified Tony Michael Spangler, 21, as a suspect. SWAT officers arrested him at approximately 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 20, 2012, at an unidentified Amarillo motel. He was booked into the Potter County jail on charges of murder and aggravated robbery.^[3:1]

By December 26, 2012, court records indicated Spangler was being held in the Potter County jail in lieu of a $500,000 bond. Records released around that time revealed that Spangler was allegedly participating in a robbery at the time of the fatal shooting.

Additional arrests

On February 11, 2013, Amarillo police made two more arrests in connection with the case. Special Crimes investigators developed information implicating Ashley Arce-Bitela, 24, and Memorie Denise Spangler, 26 (Tony Spangler's sister), in the incident. Both women were booked into the Potter County Correctional Center on murder charges.

Grand jury indictment

On May 3, 2013, a Potter County grand jury formally indicted all three suspects — Tony Michael Spangler (by then 22), Memorie Denise Spangler (26), and Ashley Grace Arce-Bitela (25) — on murder charges in connection with Torres's death.

According to court documents unsealed at the time of the indictment:

• Memorie Spangler, who was both Tony Spangler's sister and Leonard Torres's girlfriend, told police that her brother and Torres had planned to beat up and rob the male resident of the house.
• A separate witness told investigators that Memorie Spangler said she and Arce-Bitela had dropped off Tony Spangler and Torres at the house, and that both men were armed when they arrived.
• Ashley Arce-Bitela told a homicide investigator that Tony Spangler and Torres were looking for someone to rob, and that she had identified a potential target. She allegedly called and texted the intended victim to determine whether he was away from home, in order to allow Torres and Spangler to wait inside and rob him upon his return.

Following the indictment, all three defendants remained in the Potter County Jail. Tony Spangler was held in lieu of two separate $500,000 bonds; Memorie Spangler and Arce-Bitela were each held in lieu of a $250,000 bond.

Disposition

According to Potter County District Clerk records, the murder cases against all three defendants proceeded through more than a year of pretrial continuances before reaching a resolution in mid-to-late 2014

In each case, the original first-degree felony murder charge was ultimately dismissed, and each defendant was separately re-indicted on a first-degree felony robbery charge (same December 19, 2012 offense date), to which each pleaded guilty. This pattern — identical dismissal-and-refiling structure across all three co-defendants — is consistent with a negotiated global plea agreement in which the murder charges were dropped in exchange for guilty pleas to robbery.

Tony Michael Spangler

• Murder case (Cause No. 066390-00-D): Filed May 1, 2013, in the 320th District Court (transferred from the 108th). Dismissed August 27, 2014.
• Robbery case (Cause No. 069333-00-D): Filed August 21, 2014. Convicted and sentenced September 16, 2014.
• Sentence: According to Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) records, Spangler was convicted of aggravated robbery and sentenced on August 26, 2014, to 28 years in prison (TDCJ #01952989). As of this writing he remains incarcerated at the TDCJ Dalhart Unit, with a parole eligibility date of December 21, 2026, and a maximum sentence discharge date of December 20, 2040

Memorie Denise Spangler

• Murder case (Cause No. 066631-00-D): Filed May 1, 2013 (underlying complaint filed February 8, 2013), in the 320th District Court. Dismissed October 1, 2014.

• Robbery case (Cause No. 069334-00-D): Filed August 21, 2014. Convicted and sentenced October 6, 2014.

• Sentence: Exact sentence length is not available from Potter County's online docket, which records the disposition only as a conviction with a prison sentence. Memorie Spangler does not appear in TDCJ's current inmate search, indicating she has since been released, discharged, or paroled (TDCJ's online tool only lists currently incarcerated individuals).

Ashley Grace Arce-Bitela

• Murder case (Cause No. 066630-00-D): Filed May 1, 2013 (underlying complaint filed February 8, 2013), in the 320th District Court. Dismissed September 9, 2014.
• Robbery case (Cause No. 069335-00-D): Filed August 21, 2014. Convicted and sentenced September 16, 2014.
• Sentence: Exact sentence length is not available from Potter County's online docket. Court records show a Notice of Release of Offender was filed December 12, 2024, indicating Arce-Bitela was released from custody around that date. She does not appear in TDCJ's current inmate search, consistent with this release.

People involved

Timeline

See also

• 2012 Homicides

Images

Sources