A 29-year-old Weslaco man is set to go before a judge on a murder charge after an elderly man he’s accused of assaulting died from his injuries, according to the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office.

Cristian Puentes was initially booked into the Hidalgo County jail on Wednesday, March 19 on charges of injury to an elderly person, and other unrelated charges, jail records show.

According to a Monday news release, deputies with the sheriff’s office responded to the 2900 block of Hermosillo Street in rural Weslaco on March 18. At the scene, a 78-year-old man identified as Vidal Cruz said he had been assaulted by Puentes due to a landlord-tenant dispute. Cruz was hospitalized after he reported feeling faint.

Witnesses said Cruz was kicked in the head, the release added. Puentes was arrested the following day and had his bond set at $500,000.

On March 28, Hidalgo County sheriff’s investigators were informed that Cruz died. An autopsy indicated that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, ruling the manner of death as a homicide.

Investigators plan to upgrade the charge against Puentes from injury to an elderly person to murder, and a bond hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, April 1, the news release stated. 

Puentes remains in custody at the county jail.