The neighbor accused of fatally shooting King of the Hill actor Jonathan Joss last summer has been indicted on one count of first-degree murder, according to court records.
A Bexar County, Texas grand jury handed down the indictment against suspect Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez shortly before noon on Monday; Ceja’s attorneys were formally notified Wednesday at 6:05 am, the docket shows.
Ceja, 56, was arrested and charged on June 1 with Joss’s murder, and was freed on $200,000 bond the next day. He has been under full house arrest – modified on July 24 to partial house arrest “for employment purposes,” according to case filings – since then.
Police said Ceja confessed to the killing after he was apprehended a block away from the crime scene, allegedly telling officers, “I shot him.”
Joss, whose legal name was Jonathan Joss Gonzales, was known for having voiced the character of John Redcorn on the hit animated series King of the Hill and for playing Chief Ken Hotate in NBC’s Parks and Recreation. The 59-year-old was shot dead outside the remains of the San Antonio home he shared with husband Tristan Kern de Gonzales, 32. The couple had been living in Austin since January, when their home was damaged in a fire, and had shown up to check their mail, according to Kern de Gonzales.
Two days after Joss’s death, Kern de Gonzales, who said he identifies as a transgender man, recounted the terrifying moment his husband was gunned down.
“Everything was really close range. It was in the head,” Kern de Gonzales previously told The Independent. “I held his face together while I told him how much I loved him. He could still hear me, he looked up at me and he wasn't able to talk because of the extent [of his injuries], but I could tell he was trying to say, ‘I love you.’”
Although Kern de Gonzales insists the shooting was a hate crime, San Antonio Police Department officials said at first they had “no evidence” Joss’s killing was motivated by bigotry.
“Should any new evidence come to light, we will charge the suspect accordingly,” the SAPD said in a statement at the time.
The department later walked back its statement, saying it would look into whether homophobia played into the shooting.
The deadly confrontation followed years of feuding between Joss, Kern de Gonzales, and the suspect, according to Kern de Gonzales. He said the two were extremely upset to find the skull of one of their beloved dogs, which died in the January house fire, on display near their mailbox. (There is no mention of that in the SAPD incident report, which The Independent reviewed.)
Upon seeing the skull, Joss began screaming, which led to the eventual confrontation with the suspect, said Kern de Gonzales. In a Facebook post announcing Joss’ death, Kern de Gonzales alleged the shooter shouted “violent homophobic slurs” at the two of them before opening fire.
Local residents subsequently recounted stories of Joss sometimes being “really sweet,” and other times wandering down the street “ranting and raving.” One called Joss “erratic,” and claimed the actor told people that “he was God.” Another neighbor shared a video with local CBS affiliate KENS, purportedly showing Joss walking back and forth with a pitchfork, screaming.
However, according to Kern de Gonzales, people may have deemed Joss “eccentric,” but he was never a danger.
“I don't care if me and my husband were walking around with one pitchfork in our hand and another pitchfork up our a**, we didn't point any weapons at anybody,” Kern de Gonzales told The Independent. “When the man rolled up with the gun, we were checking the mail.”
San Antonio police said they responded more than 50 times between January 26, 2024, and February 9, 2025, to the home Joss and Kern de Gonzales shared.
Officers showed up at the address to handle disturbance reports, mental health and welfare checks, complaints of theft and criminal mischief, and one incident last year allegedly involving a knife, according to a call log shared with The Independent.
The final entry for the address is for a shooting in progress, the incident that ended Joss’ life.
Defense attorney Nico LaHood, who is representing Ceja, later told local ABC affiliate KSAT that his client had shot Joss in self-defense.
“As you know, people in Texas have a right not to be a victim,” LaHood told the station. “You have a right to self-defense. You have a right to the defense of third persons legally and under the law, and we believe that applies here.”
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