20 year-old charged with murder over death of teenage boyfriend
By Will Stroude
A 20 year-old from Texas has been charged with first degree murder following the death of his boyfriend.
Bryan Canchola was arrested last Friday after his 18-year-old boyfriend, Stephen Sylvester Jnr. was found unconscious in the his home near the University of Texas, exhibiting signs of strangulation and head trauma, the Statesmen reports. He later died from his injuries in hospital.
According to court documents, Sylvester and Canchola’s roommate told police that the couple had been fighting since about 4:15am after coming home from a night of drinking.
The roommate described a violent fight in which Canchola — who appeared to be extremely intoxicated — punched Sylvester in the face, threw a heavy glass and beer bottles and threatened to kill his dog.
The roommate heard “banging and violent crashing” from the room the two men shared, as well as Sylvester’s dog yelping in pain. He told police that he also scuffled with Canchola before taking Sylvester to his car and driving him to the hospital.
Though Sylvester checked into hospital and appeared to be bleeding profusely, he left before being seen by medical professionals. His roommate alerted police of his disappearance, before they received a 911 call half an hour later from Canchola, who said that Sylvester was back at their apartment, and was now unconscious.
Police arrived on the scene to find Sylvester unconscious with bruises on his face and a possible bite mark on his arm. Officers said they suspected that someone had tried to clean the blood off Sylvester, and that Canchola had changed clothes since earlier in the evening.
A post mortem report showed that Sylvester had injuries common with strangulation – including a broken bone in his neck – and found he died from head trauma.
The final picture posted to Sylvester’s Instagram account shows himself and Canchola in a loving embrace, labelled: “This is my life’s journey. Dare to follow?”
Conchola will now await trial at Travis County Jail on murder charges. His bail is set at $500,000.
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