Investigation into Colorado woman’s murder in Amarillo leads to gun charge for suspect’s brother

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - The brother of a man charged with murder is now facing a federal gun charge linked to the murder investigation.

Law enforcement arrested Salvador Torres and booked him into Randall County Jail last week on a federal charge of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

Torres’ involvement stems from a phone call made to him by his brother, Leonard Torres, in early October.

Police arrested Leonard Torres on Oct. 1 on a warrant for aggravated assault. He was also the suspect in the murder of a Colorado woman, Faith Smith, that happened days prior to his arrest.

A cooperating witness told police that Leonard shot and killed the woman in a car as they drove down North Mirror Street.

Court documents say that the witness was also able to give police information about where Smith was buried in the backyard of a residence on Orange Street.

When Leonard was arrested, police found multiple cell phones in the car he was driving; the same car where Smith was shot and killed.

Among the cell phones was one that belonged to the cooperating witness.

When police searched the cooperating witness’ phone, they found that Leonard used it to make a phone call to his brother, Salvador Torres.

Court documents say that after the three-minute phone call ended, Salvador then sent a text message saying

Knowing that ‘strap’ is a slang term for a firearm, investigators became suspicious that the gun used to shoot Smith belonged to Salvador Torres.

The same night Leonard was arrested, Amarillo police executed a search warrant on the home of the Torres’ mother on North Roosevelt Street.

During the search, police found 9mm ammunition in Salvador’s bedroom.

Investigators left their contact information at the house for Salvador, who wasn’t at home at the time of the search.

The next day, court documents say that Salvador called an investigator and told them that “he had found what he believed [they] were looking for.”

When police arrived at the home, Salvador told them he was cleaning his bedroom and moved a dresser when he saw something wrapped in a red bandana underneath it.

He showed police the item, which they found to be a Taurus 9mm handgun.

Crime Scene Unit testing showed that blood residue was on the gun.

In an interview, Salvador denied possessing the handgun but admitted to sending the text message about the “strap”. However, he told investigators that it was in reference to a bb gun he allowed his brother to borrow.

He told investigators that the ammunition had been in his bedroom since he was released from prison in May and returned home.

However, police traced the information for the box of ammunition and determined that it had been produced sometime after July 2016, two months after Salvador claimed it had already been in his room.

A search of Salvador’s phone turned up messages between him and another individual about purchasing the gun as well as the ammunition.

Both Salvador and Leonard Torres have felony convictions. Salvador’s previous convictions include aggravated sexual assault of a child and failure to comply with sex offender registration.

Because of their status as felons, both are prohibited from owning firearms.

Salvador Torres remains in Randall County Jail on a federal hold.

Leonard Torres remains in Potter County Detention Center with bond denied.