Investigators say the victim was found in a church shed and later died in a hospital.
CHINA GROVE, TX — A 32-year-old woman has been arrested on a murder charge after investigators say her boyfriend was beaten with a hammer and left seriously injured at a small church in China Grove, east of San Antonio. The man, 64-year-old Gilbert Parker, died two days after he was found, and police say the suspect tried to hide evidence and sell his pickup.
Authorities say the case turned on details in an arrest affidavit that described a blood-stained shed on church property, a weapon tip that led detectives to a damaged construction hammer, and a trail of the victim’s missing property. Abigail Marie Molina also faces charges of theft and tampering with physical evidence, officials said. The arrest came after weeks of interviews and tips, as investigators worked to reconstruct what happened and what role Molina played in Parker’s fatal injuries.
Parker was discovered on Sun., Jan. 18, on the grounds of Old Path Baptist Church, according to the affidavit. Witnesses found him lying unconscious and partially unclothed in a garden tool shed that investigators said had been adapted as his living space. The document said he appeared to be covered in dried blood, and responders reported he drifted in and out of consciousness and could not speak clearly enough to explain what happened. Emergency crews took Parker to a San Antonio hospital, but investigators said his condition worsened and he was later moved to another hospital, where he died on Tue., Jan. 20. An autopsy found multiple lacerations to his head, including one that fractured the skull and caused bleeding in the brain, investigators wrote.
The affidavit said investigators found multiple bloodstains inside the shed, along with clothing and two recliners with what appeared to be blood on them. Police also learned that Parker’s cellphone, wallet and a 2002 Dodge Dakota pickup truck were missing after he was found, and the affidavit said the truck had been central to his day-to-day life. Investigators described Parker as living out of the shed and the vehicle, and they treated the missing items as key pieces in a case that was no longer just a medical emergency. Molina contacted China Grove police on Jan. 19 and said she had “nothing to hide,” describing the incident as self-defense after an altercation that led to Parker’s hospitalization, the affidavit said.
Investigators said the early hours after Parker was found were complicated by activity at the church property. The affidavit said church parishioners entered the area and cleaned up blood and threw away drug evidence before law enforcement could fully process the scene. Police later recovered items during searches of the property and trash, including drugs, paraphernalia and bloody clothing, the affidavit said. That cleanup became part of the evidence picture for detectives trying to determine what was moved, what was discarded and what might still point to a suspect. Investigators also interviewed people who knew the couple, and the affidavit said a friend told authorities the relationship appeared uneven, with Parker more involved and possessive, and that the pair had a history of verbal conflicts.
As the investigation continued, the missing pickup and other property became a major focus. A license plate reader flagged Parker’s truck on Jan. 20 near Farm-to-Market Road 1518 and Lower Seguin Road, an area the affidavit said is close to the home of a person described as a close friend of Molina. Detectives later wrote that Molina tried to change the appearance of the vehicle by spray painting and sanding it, then took it to a car wash to clean the interior and remove suspected bloodstains. Investigators said the claim of self-defense did not match what they were seeing in the record, including what they described as the lack of defensive wounds on Parker and the missing property that would normally stay with him. During an interview, police said Molina gave vague and scattered information about her relationship with Parker, and she told investigators she last saw him on Jan. 13 at a local smoke shop where she said they had a verbal and physical confrontation.
Detectives wrote that receipts and witness accounts became important in checking Molina’s timeline. According to the affidavit, a receipt from Jan. 13 and witness statements pointed to the purchase of a specific vape product that day, and investigators later determined the same vape was found at the church scene. The affidavit also said hair fibers consistent with Molina were recovered. Investigators noted that Molina appeared unusually nervous and initially denied ever visiting Parker’s living area, but changed her account after police sought a consent hair sample and cheek swab. The affidavit said she then acknowledged she had been there once and claimed she only slept, saying the visit was well before the smoke shop incident. The affidavit also said she refused to allow investigators to look through her cellphone.
New leads arrived in early February, according to the affidavit, including tips that investigators said aligned with their developing timeline. A San Antonio Police Department homicide detective received a call on Feb. 1 from a person who said a cousin had dated Molina, and the caller described a fight that escalated to Parker’s death, detectives wrote. The next day, the affidavit said another caller told authorities the weapon had been tossed in a stormwater drainage culvert near the 2000 block of Jupe Drive on San Antonio’s East Side. Investigators said they searched the area and found a construction hammer with part of the claw missing. The remaining portion of the claw was consistent with the type of skull injury described in Parker’s autopsy findings, investigators wrote.
Police also interviewed Molina’s former boyfriend, who investigators said provided a detailed account of a call from Molina days before Parker was found. The affidavit said Molina called him on Jan. 15 crying and asking for help, describing being hit by Parker, blacking out, and striking him repeatedly with a hammer. Investigators wrote that she also admitted washing blood off her clothes. The former boyfriend told police he and Molina had ended their relationship after she assaulted him, and he showed investigators an injury to support the claim, the affidavit said. Investigators also wrote that Molina used Parker’s pickup to travel to Houston and sold the truck for $300. The affidavit described her efforts to get money for the vehicle and her steps to move it through a sale while detectives were still trying to locate it.
Molina was booked into the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on Fri., Feb. 6, according to the affidavit, after authorities obtained an arrest warrant. She was charged with murder, theft in a value range of $2,500 to $29,999, and tampering or fabricating physical evidence with intent to impair, records show. It was not immediately clear from the affidavit whether Molina had retained an attorney who could speak on her behalf, and investigators said some parts of the timeline remained under review because of the early cleanup at the church property. Police have not released a full account of exactly when Parker received the fatal blows, but investigators said the physical evidence, the weapon recovery and witness accounts all pointed to Molina as the primary suspect.
Author note: Last updated February 8, 2026.