Christina Mitchell, district attorney for Texas’ 38th Judicial District, turned to Facebook after the death of Erin Marie Benavides, a former assistant prosecutor on her staff, to describe the colleague her office lost. Benavides was 54.
Mitchell said Benavides brought “joy, laughter, and mirth to the office.”
“Her boisterous laugh throughout the office will be greatly missed,” Mitchell posted on Facebook. “Erin loved her boys and always shared, with such pride, their accomplishments.”
Mitchell closed her tribute by describing how the office will remember its colleague.
“Erin will be remembered for the time and attention she gave to her work as a Texas prosecutor, her dedication to the [Border Prosecutions Unit] and the 38th District Attorney’s office and for her commitment to making Uvalde and Real counties safer communities.”
Those two counties fall within the district where Benavides spent more than three years as an assistant district attorney.
She joined the anti-gang and border prosecution unit in January 2023 and stayed until August 2026, when she resigned.
Two months after that resignation, Port Aransas police responded to a home in the Gulf Coast city on Oct. 14.
A friend of Benavides’ husband had called authorities about an alarming text message she sent, and officers found her dead inside. The Uvalde Leader-News first reported the account.
Investigators said Benavides appeared to be living alone and was unemployed at the time.
Officers also found journals in the residence that indicated she was actively searching for a new job, police told the newspaper.
Her husband, Pablo “Paul” Benavides, lives in San Antonio. He owns the Port Aransas home where police found her, the Leader-News reported.
Long before she prosecuted gang and border cases, Benavides worked in child advocacy.
From 2020 to 2022, she served as president and CEO of the Youth Center of Texas, according to the San Antonio Express.
The Youth Center of Texas provides crisis intervention and case management for child sex-trafficking victims.
Yolanda Valenzuela, executive director of Kym’s Angels Foundation, also spoke about Benavides’ work for children.
Valenzuela recalled her service on the Bexar County Child Welfare Board.
On that board, Benavides helped run mass-adoption ceremonies. She also assisted with a Christmas fundraiser that supplied gifts to local foster children.
Benavides first landed in national headlines in 2010, when her marriage to San Antonio Spurs player Brent Barry ended.
The couple had wed in 1998. Barry filed for divorce and alleged that she had an “emotional affair” with Tony Parker.
Parker, now an NBA Hall of Famer and a six-time All-Star, played alongside Barry on the Spurs from 2004 to 2008. During that stretch, Parker was married to actress Eva Longoria.
Longoria claimed she discovered hundreds of text messages from Benavides on Parker’s phone.
In an interview with Extra, Longoria also said Parker had cheated on her earlier in their marriage. Longoria and Parker divorced in 2011.
Benavides denied the affair.
Police have not released additional details about the circumstances of her death beyond what they provided to the Leader-News.
Anyone in the United States experiencing thoughts of suicide or emotional distress can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.
