University Park Firefighter Murdered By Wife's Boyfriend, Cops Say

Friday night Bob Poynter, a University Park firefighter, made a mistake when he went to help his estranged wife, according to Royse City police. 

Chacey Poynter told him her Jeep was stuck in the mud on Farm to Market Road 35 near County Road 2595 in Royse City. Poynter took his wife's call and drove her Jeep back to the edge of the road. As he got there, she would later tell police, Michael Garza shot Bob Poynter in the back of the head with a shotgun, killing the firefighter.

Chacey Poynter then panicked and called 911 before Garza took her phone and tossed it into the mud. Garza told Poynter he'd destroy the clothes he was wearing and Bob Poynter's truck, Chacey Poynter told police, but he never did so.

When Royse City police officer Michael Burk showed up at the crime scene, Chacey Poynter had already been arrested. Later, when Burk talked to Poynter at the police department, she told him that she and her husband were going through a divorce. Bob Poynter had abused her, she said, and threatened her with losing custody of their daughter.

Poynter told Garza, whom she'd been dating, about the alleged abuse, and Garza told her that he'd do something about it. He told Chacey Poynter that she was a "shot caller," she told police, and could have people killed with just a word.

At about 7 p.m. Friday, a couple of hours before Bob Poynter was shot, Chacey Poynter visited Garza's house. There were shotgun shells and a shotgun out on the table, she said, and she and Garza discussed killing Bob Poynter in "deep Dallas" and making it look like a robbery. Chacey Poynter and Garza had sex.

Poynter and Garza later drove to County Road 2595, she told police, and she dropped Garza off to hide while she called her husband. Garza initially fled the scene, but was arrested on Monday.

Chacey Poynter and Garza have both been booked into Hunt County Jail. Chacey Poynter is charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Garza is charged with murder.

Bob Poynter was an 18-year veteran of the University Park fire department. He was promoted to captain in May 2012.