AUSTIN -- A man has been charged with murder in connection with a body found in Southeast Austin earlier this week.
Police said a fireman was getting a drink at a Valero on 6009 East Ben White Boulevard Tuesday morning when he saw a body in a field behind the gas station. The man was identified as 42-year-old Bryan Kenneth Labay, a transient who frequented the area.
An autopsy determined Labay had been stabbed.
Several days earlier, an employee at the gas station called police about a man with blood on his shorts trying to get into cars in the parking lot. Police arrested 27-year-old Mark Anthony Ramirez a short time later after a man reported someone breaking into his car a few blocks away.
According to his arrest affidavit, Ramirez had no cuts on his hand to account for the blood on his shorts. Police also found a single-edged folding knife in his front pocket. The knife was covered in blood.
Ramirez is in the Travis County Jail with bond set at $365,000.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the Homicide Tip Line at 512-477-3588 or Crimestoppers at 512-472-TIPS or text "Tip 103" + your message to CRIMES. You may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000 if your tip leads to an arrest or charges being filed.
