MIDLAND COUNTY, Texas — Sergio Cerna was in the 385th District Court of the Midland County Courthouse on Wednesday, as his capital murder trial began.
Armenta's badly burned body was found in south Midland County - back on November 2, 2021. She was so badly burned that it took more than a week to identify her. The FBI was finally able to identify Armenta using fingerprints.
The autopsy report says she was burned on 97% of her body.
Police tied Cerna to the murder using phone records back in 2021. According to the 2021 arrest affidavit, when authorities went through messages between Cerna and Armenta, they found messages like "your car is going to be burned down" and "then you will be next."
Cerna was arrested for capital murder on November 10, 2021.
Day 1 of the trial included testimonies from witnesses who were some of the first to respond to the crime scene, along with some results of the autopsy.
Miriam Thatcher was a crime scene technician for the Midland County Sheriff's Office at the time the incident happened, and responded on scene to take photographs.
Thatcher testified that the crime scene was located at 5005 FM 1213, and was about 30 to 35 yards from the road.
The prosecution shared images that Thatcher took of Armenta’s mostly burned body, which showed socks and multiple cords that were wrapped around Armenta's torso.
Thatcher said during her testimony that while at the crime scene, fabric was removed on Armenta's mouth and nose. Also while at the crime scene, she was able to identify hair and teeth.
Thatcher said none of the images that she took were able to identify Armenta. An autopsy later was able to.
On Wednesday afternoon, testimonies from the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office (DCMEO) broke down the autopsy report.
Several items of Armenta's clothing were tested by the DCMEO, which included clothing that was left on her wrists, shoulders and neck.
David Spence, a trace evidence examiner with the DCMEO, tested for ignitable liquid residue that might have caused the fire. Through his results, gasoline was identified to be on Armenta's clothing, as well as some of the debris in the body bag.
Spence added that his findings may indicate that gasoline was used to burn the body.
Those pieces of Armenta's clothing were in the courtroom in containers, as the jury also saw the blood card that was taken during Armenta’s autopsy.
Twelve witnesses took the stand during the first day of the trial.
NewsWest 9 will update this story as more information becomes available.