Trackdown: Help find person of interest in Steven Valadez’s murder

DALLAS - In this week’s Trackdown, Dallas homicide detectives are looking for a person of interest who left a Mercedes SUV early Sunday morning that had a man dying inside.

Police have surveillance video of the person of interest, who was the driver, but the Mercedes belonged to the man who died in the passenger seat.

DPD Det. John Valdez just needs one person to do the right thing and help identify the man.

"What bothers me is I believe there are people who know who he is and won't tell me," Valdez said.

The detective said he was seen quickly moving away from the Mercedes SUV that he parked in the 1000 block of Wilbur, in Southwest Oak Cliff, at 1:30 a.m. on June 13.

"My victim is in the passenger seat. He's not the driver, even though it’s his vehicle, registered to him, he's in the passenger seat," Det. Valdez explained.

Steven Valadez’s life was slipping away from gunshot wounds in the passenger seat, while the person of interest was behind the wheel.

"He calls somebody to come get him. It’s very obvious, because within five minutes, a black sedan pulls up," Det. Valdez said.

The black sedan turned on Wilbur from Polk, picked the person of interest up, then stopped, and the person of interest got out and ran back to an alley, before heading back to the car.

"It looks like he's holding a rifle, to me, if you slow the video down," the detective explained. "[The rifle was in] his left hand. He went back and got something. There was a reason he went back and got something."

Police are working to identify the man who drove Valadez to that area, before leaving him on the side of the road.

"I think people know who this person was. I think there are people that are close that know Steven, that absolutely know who this person was," Det. Valdez said.

Valdez also said another vehicle pulled up about 15 minutes later, and it was Valadez’s relatives.

While a memorial has been built where Valadez lost his life, no one has helped Det. Valdez build a case.

"I don’t know. That’s why I have to talk to this person driving, and again, he's just a person of interest. But I have to talk to him or there’s a good chance this case won’t be solved," the detective added.

Anyone with information is asked to call Det. Valdez at 214-671-3623 or email him at john.valdez@dallascityhall.com.