Crime Blog | Your filter to El Paso area police blotters and court dockets

Sheriff's deputies seek stabbing suspect

LAS CRUCES — Doña Ana Sheriff's Investigators are looking for anyone who might have information on the location of a woman wanted for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

Vanessa L. Garcia, 22, allegedly attacked another woman Sept. 2 and is believed to have fled to Arizona.

To read more and view Garcia's photo, click here.

Homeless Calif. man suffered severe injuries during police beating

FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES -- A homeless man suffered brain injuries, a shattered nose, a smashed cheekbone, broken ribs and severe internal bleeding during a violent altercation with Fullerton police, according to medical records released Wednesday.

The family of Kelly Thomas provided the medical records from UC Irvine Medical Center, where the mentally ill homeless man died five days after the violent clash at the Fullerton bus depot.

The records show the immediate cause of death was "brain death" due to "head trauma" from the incident.

To read the full story, click here.

BOLO: Most wanted for family violence

Crime Stoppers of El Paso is asking for the media’s help in publicizing the persons listed below who have outstanding warrants for Family Violence assaults.  With your assistance, we can bring them to justice.

If you are a victim of or a witness to family violence, report it immediately at 911.  Or you can call Crime Stoppers at 566-TIPS (566-8477) to report on-going concerns.  You will remain anonymous, and you could receive a cash reward if your information proves useful in apprehending these offenders:

Jose Enriquez, 21

Gerardo Gutierrez, 39

Erika Martinez, 21

Gustavo Soriano, 35

LCPD crisis intervention team seeks volunteers

From the Las Cruces Police Department:

The Las Cruces Police Department’s Victims’ Assistance Unit is accepting applications for volunteers who are interested in working with the Crisis Intervention Response Team.

The team works with police officers and detectives in offering assistance to victims of crimes. Volunteering for the team is a unique opportunity for those interested in a career in law enforcement or as a victim’s advocate, or college students who want experience in the field of law enforcement.

Applicants must:

•Be at least 18 years old.

•Speak English as their primary language

•Have a valid New Mexico driver’s license

•Have a vehicle and proof of insurance.

•Live within, or in close proximity to, city limits.

•Be able to pass a criminal background check.

Bilingual English/Spanish-speakers are strongly encouraged to apply. Applicants selected will attend a 40-hour training academy and are asked to make a one-year commitment to the program. Volunteer advocates are then required to be on-call one weekend a month from 5 p.m. Friday through 8 a.m. Monday.

Those interested in applying for the program are asked to contact Lana Weir, volunteer coordinator for the LCPD Victims’ Assistance Unit, at (575) 528-4111 or via e-mail at lweir@las-cruces.org.

Trial of David Marmolejo, Day 1

David Marmolejo's second murder trial is moving along, albeit slower than expected.

Marmolejo is accused of strangling his mother, Gloria Huerta Marmolejo, to death on July 25, 2009, then dumping her body in a desert area in Santa Teresa. His first trial in October ended with a deadlocked jury unable to reach a verdict. Because of extensive media coverage of the first trial, his second trial was moved to San Antonio.

Judge Gonzalo Garcia was able to arrange with San Antonio District Judge Sid Harle to borrow Harle's courtroom for two weeks. Harle is working out of a nearby juvenile courtroom in the meantime.

Court officials had originally planned to begin opening statements immediately after jurors were picked on Monday afternoon. The original plans also called for the state introducing their first witness.

But since things took a little longer than expected, and jurors were showing signs of being tired of having to wait around all day. Garcia decided instead to begin Tuesday morning with opening statements.

Four witnesses were called to the stand Tuesday, including a Cricket Communications official who testified about the locations of the company's cell phone towers in El Paso and read cell phone records that showed calls between David Marmolejo's cell phone, his mother's cell phone and a cell phone belonging to his stepsister and girlfriend at the time, Mariah Wilson.

The second witness of the day, Manny Marmolejo, at times sobbed briefly on the stand as he described the search for his mother, who was missing for six days before her body was found. David Marmolejo was also seen wiping away tears as he listened to his brother's testimony. Manny Marmolejo testified that the two haven't spoken since November 2009, when David Marmolejo finally admitted to him that he had been romantically involved with Wilson. The couple's relationship had been kept secret from other family members, who didn't approve of Wilson or rumors of a relationship.

Katherine Thompson, the state's third witness and a friend of David Marmolejo, testified she and her husband Michael Thompson hosted a barbecue that Marmolejo attended on July 25, 2009, with Wilson.

Manny Marmolejo's wife, Jennifer Marmolejo, was the day's fourth and final witness. She testified about her close relationship with Gloria Marmolejo, and Gloria Marmolejo's plans to "sneak up" on David Marmolejo during her July 25, 2009 trip to El Paso from Arizona, where she had been living for five months.

When Jennifer and Manny Marmolejo traveled to El Paso on July 27, 2009 to look for Gloria Marmolejo, they stayed at Gloria Marmolejo's home on Sonoma Place in East El Paso, where David Marmolejo had been living in his mother's absence. Jennifer Marmolejo testified the home looked clean, and that she saw Gloria Marmolejo's unpacked suitcase in the master bedroom.

Jennifer Marmolejo testified that wasn't in Gloria Marmolejo's character to leave her clothes unpacked. Her usual habit was to unpack immediately upon arriving at her destination, Jennifer Marmolejo said.

In all, 17 witnesses or more are slated to be called to the stand, Garcia said in court Tuesday.

Testimony is expected to begin shortly after 10 a.m. San Antonio time this morning. The late start is due to Harle presiding over a morning docket call scheduled in his regular courtroom.

Monitor elpasotimes.com for updates later today.

 

Reward increased in unsolved LC triple homicide

From the Las Cruces Sun-News:

Las Cruces Crime Stoppers is hoping that an additional $5,000 in reward money will spark new clues in the April 2010 triple homicide that occurred on Mesilla Hills Drive.

On March 1, the estate of Peter Weith gave Las Cruces Crime Stoppers $5,000 as reward money to help solve the crime. In December the Gilles and Helga Delisle estate provided $8,000 in reward money.

The new total reward for information that leads to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the murders, including the initial $2,000 provided by Crime Stoppers, now stands at $15,000.

On the morning of Thursday, April 15, 2010, the bodies of Peter J. Weith, and Gilles L. and Helga Harries Delisle, were discovered inside a home at 2617 Mesilla Hills Dr. Investigators learned that the three victims had been shot to death.

The Dona Ana County Sheriff's Department continues to seek information on the triple homicide and asks for anyone with information - no matter how relevant or insignificant that information is believed to be - to call Crime Stoppers. The identities of those who provide information can be kept anonymous.

If you have any information on who may have committed this crime you are asked to call Las Cruces Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or send a tip via text message to LCTIPS (528477). The Crime Stoppers number and text messaging services are operational 24 hours a day and you do not have to give your name to collect a reward.

Friends of beating victim, officials ask for violence to stop

LAS CRUCES - In the aftermath of an attempted revenge shooting that killed an older man instead of its intended target, friends of an injured high schooler, as well as authorities, are urging peace and patience - and not further violence.

Three teens - who will be charged as adults - and a 23-year-old are in custody, charged with the first-degree murder of 57-year-old Julian Peña Sr. after they allegedly shot at least 10 rounds at his mobile home Monday night, fatally wounding him.

The four allegedly thought they were shooting at the home of a male known as "Tuna," who they believed had taken a bat to their friend the day before, 18-year-old Jerry Zamarripa, who remains on life support at University Medical Center in El Paso.

Read more here.

Las Cruces shooting victim dies after life support terminated

LAS CRUCES - A 57-year-old man has become the city's first homicide victim of the year.

Julian Peña, who was shot in the head at his home at Watson Lane Mobile Home Park around 7:30 p.m. Monday, was removed from life support overnight, his niece confirmed this morning.

University Medical Center in El Paso, where Peña had been listed last night in critical condition, has a policy of not making death announcements and could not confirm the death.

Read more here.

Oñate player on life support after attack at house party

LAS CRUCES - An Oñate High School varsity football player is on life support after a fight early Sunday morning, according to law enforcement and friends of the boy.

Jerry Zamarripa, 18, who was struck twice in the head, and Anthony Sena, who was stabbed in the side, were flown to the University Medical Center in El Paso about 3 a.m. Sunday after Doña Ana County sheriff's officers were called to a loud party on the 8700 block of Tammy Lane, off Weisner Road, according to the sheriff's office.

Authorities haven't yet said what Zamarripa was struck with, but several of his friends on Facebook posted he was hit with a baseball bat.

Read more here.

NMSU police still seek clues in disappearance of mom, son

LAS CRUCES -- The little boy's floppy bangs would be gone now, his smile lines deeper, a few crows' feet around the squint of his eyes.

Maybe. That's just the best guess of the age-progression experts at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Two decades ago Wednesday, on Feb. 23, 1991, the boy -- Nicholas Smith, 11, and his mother, Edyth Ann Dewees Warner, 35, disappeared from New Mexico State University student housing. As part of its ongoing effort to find the two and put the mystery to rest, the center this week is asking for the public's help solving the case.

Edyth's husband, Henry Warner -- with whom Edyth had another, younger, son, now grown -- didn't report the disappearance to police for a week, and told authorities the two had left the house on foot, leaving behind Edyth's car and taking almost $1,000 in cash and $10,000 in gold coins. He didn't tell his wife's parents about the disappearance until March, when they became concerned that their daughter wasn't returning calls.

Read more here.