Two people face evidence-tampering charges, but authorities have not publicly announced a charge for the killing of Michael Poche.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — The death of Michael Anthony Poche is officially a homicide, but the criminal case surrounding the 29-year-old’s killing remains divided between what investigators say they know about the scene and the larger question they have not publicly answered: who caused his fatal injuries.
The distinction has become central to the investigation that followed the July 26 discovery of Poche’s body inside a closet at the San Antonio home where he had been renting a room. The medical examiner determined that he died from multiple sharp-force injuries. Margaret Kaye Brown and Christopher Boyd Henson, a married couple who are both 30, were arrested on allegations that they tampered with physical evidence by attempting to clean the scene before deputies arrived. Yet the publicly reported charges against them concern evidence, not Poche’s homicide itself.
The evidence-tampering allegations arose from what deputies encountered after responding to what initially sounded like an ordinary missing-person report. Brown called the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office at about 4:30 p.m. that Sunday and reported that her friend had disappeared from a home in the 700 block of Fort Leonard. Brown and the homeowner said the missing man had left during the early morning after experiencing what they described as a “night terror.” Authorities said the homeowner reported last seeing him at about 2 a.m.
Once inside the home, however, a deputy began seeing evidence of blood. The deputy continued searching and opened a closet in a vacant bedroom. A man’s body was inside, wrapped tightly in clear plastic, according to the sheriff’s office. Investigators also observed numerous injuries on the body. The discovery meant the person deputies had been asked to locate might never have left the residence at all, although officials initially waited for the medical examiner to confirm the body’s identity before linking the remains conclusively to the missing man.
Sheriff Javier Salazar said the condition of the body made the circumstances immediately suspicious. He publicly questioned the idea that a person could have injured himself and then ended up wrapped so tightly in plastic. Deputies treated the house as a crime scene and looked more closely at blood evidence and other conditions inside. The sheriff’s office later said investigators believed Brown and Henson had been trying to clean the scene before law enforcement arrived. Henson came to the residence during the deputy’s search, authorities said.
That alleged cleanup is the basis of the criminal accusations that have been made public. Brown and Henson were each charged with tampering with physical evidence and initially held on $100,000 bonds. Later reports said both had been released on bond. The charges are allegations and do not establish that either person killed Poche. Brown declined to comment when contacted later by the San Antonio Express-News. The publicly reviewed reporting does not identify a plea or final disposition in either evidence-tampering case.
Only after the discovery did forensic findings settle the two questions officers could not answer at the scene. Authorities identified the body as Poche, the person who had been reported missing earlier that day. The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office then ruled his death a homicide and attributed it to multiple sharp-force injuries. Those findings provide investigators with a cause and manner of death, but they do not identify the person who inflicted the wounds or determine whether the available evidence meets the legal standard for charging a particular suspect.
Investigators also said the Fort Leonard house was not their only area of interest. Salazar said evidence believed to be associated with Poche’s death had been recovered at another nearby residence. Detectives planned to seek search warrants as they worked through both locations. Authorities have not publicly released a comprehensive inventory of that evidence in the reports reviewed, nor have they explained precisely how the second residence fits into the timeline of Poche’s death. Those unanswered details may be important in determining what happened before deputies arrived.
While the forensic investigation developed, Poche’s relatives provided their own account of the hours before Brown called 911. His mother, Angela Long, said Brown contacted her earlier on July 26 and told her that Poche had disappeared. Brown had known Poche since their younger years in Tehachapi, California, Long said. According to Long, Brown told her Poche had hurt himself, later left the house and took some possessions with him. Long said she was troubled that other belongings her son frequently used were supposedly still at the residence.
The family account also introduced an issue that later became significant to the evidence-tampering investigation: blood in Poche’s room. Long said Brown sent her photographs showing the room, and the Express-News reported that images it reviewed showed blood staining the mattress and carpet. Poche’s grandmother, Peggy Rowan, recalled Brown saying she planned to clean the blood. Rowan said relatives warned her not to clean the room before law enforcement had examined it. Long said she pressed for a missing-person report to be made, leading to the sheriff’s office response that afternoon.
That sequence creates an investigative question different from the homicide ruling itself. Authorities have evidence that, in their view, supports accusing two people of trying to alter a scene. The medical examiner has evidence sufficient to classify Poche’s death as caused by another person. What has not been publicly established is the evidentiary bridge between those conclusions and a charge accusing any individual of the killing. Police and prosecutors often continue gathering forensic results, statements, digital records and other material before deciding whether a homicide charge is supported, but officials have not publicly detailed what further evidence they are seeking in this case.
The lack of a homicide charge should not be interpreted as a finding that no one will be charged, just as the evidence-tampering accusations should not be treated as proof that Brown or Henson caused Poche’s death. Those are separate legal questions. Authorities have publicly alleged an effort to clean evidence connected to the scene. They have also publicly established through the medical examiner that Poche’s death was a homicide. The identity of the person legally responsible for the fatal injuries remains unresolved in the reporting available through Aug. 28.
Poche had only recently arrived in San Antonio before his death. Long said he moved from Oregon looking for steady employment and housing. Brown helped him find a room through a friend, according to the family’s account. He stayed in contact with relatives back in California and had two daughters, ages 7 and 11. Family members said he enjoyed skateboarding, video games, bike riding, tattooing and animals. What had been an attempt to establish a more stable life became, within a short period, the setting of a homicide investigation spanning at least two residences.
For his relatives, the unanswered legal question is inseparable from the personal loss. Long said she had known Brown for years because of Brown’s friendship with Poche. On the day of his disappearance, Long went from receiving information that her son had apparently walked away from the house to learning that deputies had found a body there. The later identification and homicide ruling eliminated the uncertainty over whether Poche was the person in the closet, but it intensified the family’s question about what happened to him before the missing-person call.
The investigation’s public record now contains three separate layers: the early account that Poche had left the house, physical evidence that led deputies to his body and a medical conclusion that he was killed. The alleged attempt to clean the residence forms another piece of that record and has produced criminal charges. Authorities have not publicly completed the final layer by identifying a charged killer. Until that occurs, the case remains a homicide investigation in which two defendants face evidence-related accusations but responsibility for Poche’s death has not been established in court.
As of Aug. 28, Poche’s family has been working to return his remains to California and provide support for his daughters. The sheriff’s investigation remains the avenue through which the unanswered questions surrounding his death may be resolved. The known forensic conclusion is that he died from sharp-force injuries and that his death was a homicide; the known criminal allegations concern tampering with evidence. Any further determination of responsibility will depend on evidence authorities have not yet made public or charges they have not yet announced.
Author note: Last updated August 28, 2026.