Marble Falls police find dead motorcyclist at end of Manzano Mile
MARBLE FALLS — Police searching for a missing motorcyclist Aug. 4 found the man’s lifeless body after spotting a torn fence where Manzano Mile comes to a dead end.
He was identified as Arlen Jacob Chavez, 25, of Marble Falls.
The case began when a woman contacted police about 11:40 p.m. and said her boyfriend hadn’t returned from a motorcycle ride more than four hours earlier, said police Capt. Glenn Hanson.
She told police the man may have driven down Manzano Mile off RR 1431 East.
“Officers checked the area going up and down it several times, but they didn’t see anybody,” Hanson said.
They also contacted other local police agencies as well as hospitals in Burnet, Llano, Williamson and Travis counties, but didn’t hear anything.
Officers returned to Manzano Mile with a thermal-imaging unit that can detect heat emanating from a human body or a vehicle. The road stretches for about two miles north of 1431, with Colt Elementary School at the far end just before the road stops at a fence and a wooded area.
As police searched the 2200 block of Manzano Mile about 1 a.m., the officers noticed a broken fence at the end of the road, Hanson said.
The officers found the man’s body and a 2010 Triumph Daytona motorcycle at the north of the end of Manzano Mile past the school, the captain said. Police said he was not found wearing a helmet.
The cause of the mishap remains under investigation, officials said.
This is the third single-vehicle accident on Manzano Mile in the past several weeks, Hanson said, but the only one marked by death or serious injury.
Previous accidents involved a pickup traveling at a high speed south on Manzano Mile, failing to stop at the 1431 intersection and crashing through a fence.
Another involved a car traveling north on Manzano Mile and plowing through the fence at the end of the road. The vehicle traveled 115 feet into the wooded area before coming to a stop, Hanson said.
Meanwhile, relatives Aug. 6 said Chavez was born March 27, 1987, in Silver City, N.M., to Steven Mike Chavez and Vonita Faye Strain.
The motorcyclist worked in the construction business.
Survivors include his father and wife Yvonne of Silver City, N.M.; mother Vonita Madrid of Marble Falls; significant other Kristie Crowell; son Aiden Chavez of Marble Falls; grandmothers Nita Chavez and Patricia Bice, both of Silver City, N.M.; brothers, Christopher Chavez of Kyle, Ronnie Madrid and Jeremie Madrid, both of Marble Falls, and Anthony Chavez of Silver City, N.M.
A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated 6:30 p.m. Aug. 8 at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, 105 RR 1431 East in Marble Falls, with the Rev. Jairo Lopez officiating.
An online guest book can be found at www.edgarfh.com.
Cremation arrangements under the direction of Edgar Funeral Home, 2105 U.S. 281 North in Marble Falls, (83) 693-5808.