EDINBURG – Jurors have reached a verdict in the trial of the man accused of killing Chayse Olivarez in 2017.

Jurors found Jose Luis Garcia Jr. not guilty of murder, but guilty of tampering with physical evidence in connection to the homicide in Starr County.

The verdict was reached at 1:20 a.m. Friday after nearly 13 hours of deliberation.

Jurors entered deliberations Thursday morning in the Garcia case, who was tried for murder and tampering with physical evidence in connection to the homicide of Olivarez.

Olivarez was reported missing in late-July 2017; his remains were found in Roma a couple weeks later.

During the trial against Garcia, the jury heard from defense attorneys who talked about the reputation of the victim and his family.

Testimony mentioned Olivarez had sent threatening messages to Garcia and he acted on that fear.

During the state’s closing arguments, prosecutors asked the jury to consider the lack of evidence of those messages that spurred the fear leading to the fatal confrontation.

Sentencing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday.