Police are investigating how the man died after a vehicle was recorded stopping near the place where he was found.
HOUSTON, Texas — Houston homicide investigators are examining the circumstances surrounding the death of a man found at a southwest Houston apartment complex after a witness reported that a body had been left in the parking lot Saturday afternoon.
Police responded about 2:45 p.m. Sept. 12 to the 5700 block of Rampart Street. Emergency personnel attempted lifesaving measures, but the man could not be saved. Investigators have not determined when or where he died, and authorities have not announced a cause of death.
The investigation centers in part on surveillance video recorded at the apartment complex shortly before authorities were called. Video obtained by ABC13 showed a Toyota entering the parking lot at about 2:18 p.m. and stopping in the area where the man was later found. The vehicle remained there for less than two minutes before leaving.
The recording showed a man getting out of the vehicle at least once during the brief stop. The vehicle could also be seen moving while it was parked. Police have not publicly identified the people shown in the recording or said whether investigators have located the Toyota.
A woman who called 911 told local reporters that another resident had alerted her to the man and said people had left him at the complex. She also described what she believed were marks on his neck. Police have not confirmed that account as the cause of his death, and investigators said the cause remained undetermined.
Another local report said officers found the man unresponsive when they reached the apartment complex and that police at the scene reported no apparent signs of trauma. That account underscores a central question investigators have not yet answered: whether the man died from an injury, a medical condition or another cause. No official determination has been released.
The man had not been formally identified by police in the initial reports. His family identified him to ABC13 as Santos Macario Chay Tamayac. Relatives said he had gone to work earlier Saturday and that they did not know what happened between the time he left and the time he was found at the apartment complex.
Investigators also have not established whether Chay Tamayac was alive when he arrived at the complex. Police confirmed his death but did not say whether he died at the parking lot or somewhere else before the vehicle seen on surveillance video arrived.
The distinction is important because the parking lot may represent either the place where the death occurred or a location where the man was taken afterward. Investigators are working to establish a timeline that could explain his movements before he was found and the role, if any, of the people seen with the vehicle.
No arrest or suspect was announced in the reports reviewed, and police had not publicly identified a motive or classified the death as a homicide. The investigation remains active as authorities work to determine the cause and circumstances of Chay Tamayac’s death.
Author note: Last updated September 15, 2026.