Investigators say an 18-year-old later admitted killing Noe Santillan Rincon and trying to hide the van.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis homicide case took shape around a family accusation and an alleged cover-up after police said an 18-year-old woman admitted shooting a man whose body was discovered in the street on Feb. 26.
Police said the victim was Noe Santillan Rincon, 58, and that the suspect, Alishon Torres, told detectives she killed him after a young relative said Rincon had touched her inappropriately. The account, as described in reporting on the arrest, turned what first appeared to be a street shooting into a case built on motive, confession and the movement of a vehicle after the gunfire. Torres was booked on charges including first-degree murder, employing a firearm in the commission of a felony and tampering with evidence.
Officers were called to the Willowview area just before 2 a.m. after a patrol officer saw a man lying in the roadway. Investigators later identified him as Rincon. The Shelby County Medical Examiner’s findings, as described in the reporting, said he had been shot about 14 times, including once in the head. That level of violence quickly raised the stakes of the investigation. Family members identified the victim, and obituary records later listed his date of death as Feb. 26, with services held in Memphis and burial planned in Mexico.
Detectives said Torres gave a detailed account of what happened next. According to police, she found Rincon in the Willowview area while he was seated in a van and asked to use his phone. Investigators said she then shot him repeatedly inside the vehicle, with her statement placing the number of shots at about 10. Police allege the violence did not end there. They said Torres photographed the blood inside the van, drove the vehicle away, took it to an abandoned house, painted over parts of it and then left it at an apartment complex. Those reported steps became central to the claim that evidence was intentionally altered or hidden after the killing.
The allegation involving the child remains one of the most sensitive parts of the case and also one of the least publicly explained. Reporting on the arrest says the accusation came from a family member who said Rincon had touched a 5-year-old. Authorities have not publicly released a fuller account of when that allegation surfaced, whether it had been reported before the shooting, or whether any separate investigation tied to that claim was opened before Rincon was killed. That leaves a major factual gap even as the murder case itself moves forward.
The known record, however, gives prosecutors several pillars for the case they are expected to present: the location of the body, the number of gunshot wounds, the identity of the victim, the statement police say Torres gave, and the alleged movement and alteration of the van. The combination matters because it reaches beyond the act of shooting and into conduct after the homicide. In many criminal cases, that kind of alleged cleanup effort is used by prosecutors to argue consciousness of guilt. Whether that argument holds up will depend on how the evidence is introduced and tested in court.
The case also lands in a city that sees intense scrutiny of violent crime investigations, where the early public record often comes from police affidavits and television reporting before fuller court filings emerge. Here, the central facts moved quickly into public view: an 18-year-old suspect, a dead man left in the street, and an accusation involving a child that investigators said set off the encounter. Just as quickly, the case became one with sharp emotional edges, touching on family protection, alleged retaliation and the limits of vigilante action under criminal law.
As of this week, the public reporting shows Torres in custody on the three charges announced by police. No broader public explanation from defense counsel was included in the available reports, and no detailed hearing schedule was publicly outlined there. That means the next major developments are likely to come through court appearances, charging documents and any later motions that spell out what evidence each side plans to rely on.
For now, the official account remains at a pivotal but early point: detectives say Torres confessed, the medical examiner documented extensive gunfire, and prosecutors have begun what could become a closely watched homicide case in Shelby County. The next update will come when court proceedings add sworn detail to the story behind the arrest.
Author note: Last updated March 8, 2026.