30 THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE • Late Summer 2018 TheCoastalBend.com lots (generally an acre in size), on which modern, semi- luxurious homes have been constructed. The student population of the London Independent School District has grown exponentially over the past few years, now with a new, modern campus opened on FM-43, which we city folks know as Weber Rd. Homeowners there are virtually all young families who have sought to escape what has become a bustling city scene in most of Corpus Christi—but they especial- ly move there to take advantage of small, public schools where safety is nary an issue, and where the quality of education is consistently better than in CCISD. Lon- don Club Estates is located just a quarter-mile from the London ISD campus, and with about 100 homesites, is the largest of the high-end residential enclaves that have popped up on what were cotton fields for over a century. The Cross- town Expressway will take you on a direct, 15-minute route (without traf- fic at least) from the Laredo/17th St. neighborhood, to London Club Estates, but no two communities in Corpus Christi could be more op- posite. In the area statistically identi- fied as Tierra Grande, the average income is in the top 15% in the U.S. and it is among the top 8% wealthiest neighborhoods; child poverty is 5.4%, about as low as it gets; median home value is $353,000, in the top 14% in the U.S., and; 65% of homes were built after 1999, placing it among the 3% newest neighborhoods in the country. Investment properties like the four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath, 3,200 square foot home at 2534 Balchuk Lane will generate $3,000 per month or more in rent—not a bad deal for an executive home on an acre lot located in a great, rural school district, and that sold for almost $470,000 just a few years ago. Reports of a double homicide, first called into 911 as a murder-suicide in the 1:00 a.m. hour of Monday, April 2, 2018, to the London Club Estates address was a genuine shock to residents, who knew the young fam- ily as friendly but that they kept to themselves—not hard to do in a subdivision of acre-sized lots. Police may have been just as surprised until the nature of the crime was determined, and the identity of the victims was established. Arturo Mario Lopez, 39, and his wife Miriam Flores Lopez, 38, were found shot to death in their bedroom. Their 17-year-old son and his girlfriend, along with the couple’s middle-school-aged daughter, crying and screaming hysterically, met Nueces County Sheriff’s deputies as they arrived at Balchuk Lane in response to the call. A ccording to court affidavits, four men broke into the home through a rear, slid- ing glass patio door, yelling, “CCPD, get on the floor!” The Lopez’ son stated to police that he hid with his girlfriend in a bathroom af- ter hearing several gunshots but was then confronted by one of the gunmen, whom he recognized from his dis- tinct features—hazel eyes and hair dyed red on the tips, sticking out from under his mask. The Lopez’ son identified the young man with the hazel eyes and red-tipped hair as “Trebzz,” the online amateur DJ identity of 18-year-old Trebor Wheeler, who was the roommate of the boy’s cousin, Ausencio Acosta, Jr. Wheeler had been arrested on an unrelated capital murder warrant in Killeen nine days after the London ISD murders, on April 11. He was turned over to Nueces County Sheriff’s deputies within days and re- turned to Corpus Christi to face charges of capital mur- der, aggravated robbery and oth- ers, with a bond of more than $1.2 million. According to sworn state- ments, Wheeler admitted to being at the Lopez home on the night of the killings, and that he was part of a plot hatched by Acosta and a guy he met at his apartment named “A.O.,” a.k.a. 46-year-old Adrian Olivares, a career criminal with a long record that includes the sex- ual assault of a 16-year-old girl in Cleburne, Texas, for which he is a registered sex offender. According to Wheeler, Acosta was enraged at the Lopez’ son, claiming that he had stolen marijuana from him, and he wanted to rob him and his parents in retaliation, re- vealing that a large volume of methamphetamines and as much as $400,000 in cash were allegedly stashed in their London Club Estates rental home. He and Olivares then recruited Wheeler and another man who would be armed with an assault rifle. The men traveled from Acosta’s apartment, where he remained, in two vehi- cles to the entrance of the small subdivision, passing by the stylish, black on grey stucco home several times. Wheeler told police that he and one of the men jumped the back fence of the acre-sized property, and that he smashed through the glass of the rear patio door. Once inside, the two rushed to the front door where they let the other two gunmen into the house. According to Wheeler, Olivares, armed with a shotgun, along with 26-year-old Jordan Gosson and 31-year-old Ismael Castillo, proceeded to the Lopez’s master bed- room in search of the drugs and money. Wheeler stated that he and the fifth gunman went to search for the Lopez’ son in his bedroom. As stated in court records, it was in the master bedroom that Arturo Lopez confronted Olivares, grab- bing the shotgun, when he was shot in the back with a handgun by Castillo, and then in the back of the head with an assault rifle by Gosson. The degree to which Miriam Lopez resisted the attack has not been report- ed, but it is stated that Gosson shot her in the chest. The son claimed that after several minutes he could hear the men yelling, “Clear out,” and all five exited the front door of the home, racing off in one of the vehicles. Acosta, known as “Chance” and “Little Bro,” was arrested on April 13. The former Ray High School var- sity football player is the cousin of the Lopez’ teenage son and is accused of directing the gunmen to the Lo- pez home and instructing them on its floor plan. Just two days after the murders, Acosta posted a video of a large tattoo on his arm that he apparently had done in tribute to his dead family members, accompanied by a post that read, “You’ll always watch my back even when you’re gone…Rest In Peace family. Mario & Miri- am” (referring to Arturo by his middle name). He was arrested for their murders the following week. The third man arrested on suspicion of capital murder and other crimes related to the London Club Estates home invasion was Ismael Castillo, who was lo- cated at a motel in San Antonio on April 18 and was tak- en into custody without incident. Guns were found in his motel room for which he was additionally charged with being a felon in possession of firearms. He was re- turned to Corpus Christi where he was charged with an another home invasion and murder—that of Deandre Mathis at the Coleman Ave. house on March 14. Castillo is accused of acting as one of two gunmen who burst into the house in broad daylight to rob the occupants of drugs and cash. Days later, he would be charged with a third violent robbery. Within minutes of the 5:00 p.m. arrest of Castillo in San Antonio on Wednesday April 18, Robert Gossom turned himself in to U.S. Marshals at a location on S. Port Ave. He is accused of carrying an assault rifle into the Lopez home and shooting Arturo in the back of the head, and Miriam in the chest, killing them both. He is also accused in the third, violent robbery of Aman’s. Deandre Mathis Above: Miriam & Arturo Lopez; Left: Acosta’s tattoo done in their honor two days after their murders.