Arlington police arrest boyfriend of homicide victim on probation violation

Arlington police announced Thursday that they have located the boyfriend of a woman who was found beaten to death last month.

Police issued an appeal Wednesday for tips on the whereabouts of Jose Luis Moreno Castaneda, who they wanted to question about the killing of Evila Yanes.

Police received a tip that Moreno Castaneda was in Lewisville and members of the U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force arrested him there Thursday morning on a probation violation warrant.

“He has so far declined to speak with detectives regarding our ongoing investigation into the murder of Evila Yanes,” police said in a statement Thursday evening. “At this time, no charges have been filed in connection to that case.”

Moreno Castaneda, 44, was booked into the Arlington City Jail on the probation violation. He was on probation after he was convicted of assaulting Yanes last year.

Yanes, 44, was found dead in the 400 block of North Cooper Street about 4 a.m. on Oct. 30. Her death was caused by blunt force injuries to the head, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Moreno Castaneda was the last person seen with Yanes before she died, police said. Surveillance video from a grocery store showed the two together hours before she was found dead.

On a GoFundMe page, Yanes’ family wrote, “She was a sweet, loving, caring, beautiful single mother who left behind 5 kids along with 2 grandchildren. She always looked at the good side of everyone around her. She devoted her life to her children and her grandchildren, they were everything to her and now they will never see her again. She was a mother as much as she was a father to them. She will be forever missed.”