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Texas
May 8, 2004 21:14:50 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on May 8, 2004 21:14:50 GMT -5
Apr. 02, 2004
COLLEYVILLE - Remains found in the septic tank at a home on Colleyville Terrace may be those of a 55-year-old Fort Worth man believed to have been killed in 1996, police reports indicate.
Linda Anderson, a spokeswoman with the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office, said Thursday that the man had not been positively identified. She confirmed that the bones, found Wednesday, were in the septic tank.
Police arrested Kevin Rotenberry, 29, of Colleyville on suspicion of murder in connection with the case. He was in the Colleyville Jail on Thursday with bail set at $500,000.
Rotenberry and his mother lived at the home at 700 Colleyville Terrace, where the remains were found by authorities acting on a tip.
According to Fort Worth police reports, the victim may have lived at the same address for a time. He filed a theft report with Fort Worth police on June 14, 1994, and listed the address as his home.
And Fort Worth police Sgt. Ken Dean said a missing-person report regarding the same man was filed with Fort Worth police in May 1996 by a woman believed to be his wife who lived in Fort Worth.
"She called him in missing, but a few days later, she called back and said he came back home," Dean said. He said it does not appear that the man was reported missing again to Fort Worth police.
Colleyville Police Chief John Young Jr. referred questions Thursday to Detective Hillary Wray, who is assigned to the case.
"This is an investigation that's been going on for some time," Wray said. "And we're not finished yet."
Wray then declined to comment further about the slaying.
The Texas Rangers and the FBI were assisting Colleyville police in the investigation.
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Texas
May 8, 2004 21:57:07 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on May 8, 2004 21:57:07 GMT -5
A University of Houston student missing since Oct. 30 was found unharmed Tuesday in Pensacola, Fla., by the FBI.
Lt. Pat Worrell of the Missouri City Department of Public Safety said FBI agents located Chau "Carol" Tran Minh Nguyen, a UH pre-optometry sophomore, at her boyfriend's residence.
Worrell said that, although Missouri City police will not know all the details of the case until the FBI agents file a final report, he considers the case closed.
"The bottom line is she went voluntarily. She went by her own free will and she's living in Florida with her boyfriend," Worrell said.
Nguyen had been the object of an intense investigation by the Missouri City Department of Public Safety and the University of Houston Police Department for the past two weeks. She had been last seen in Houston at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 30, when she gave her car keys to her sister, Thuy Nguyen, a UH freshman.
When Nguyen failed to keep a 1 p.m. appointment to meet her sister so the two could ride home together, Thuy was concerned. That night, after hearing nothing from her sister, Thuy contacted the Missouri City police.
Her brother, Viet Nguyen, said his sister had no problems, had no reason to be upset and would not run away. He said Nguyen was very punctual and always told her family where she was going.
Police agreed with the family's assessment. Missouri City detective Andi Wiltse said her department did an "extensive background check" and discovered Nguyen was "a very consistent person."
Nguyen was the valedictorian of her 1993 graduating class at Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur, where she was also a member of the National Honor Society.
According to Wiltse, police began receiving tips about Nguyen's disappearance after Nov. 8, when The Daily Cougar first published the news of her disappearance.
At the same time, someone recognized Nguyen's picture and contacted the woman's parents in Port Arthur. Wiltse said the parents apparently did not know their daughter was missing until that time.
Although Nguyen had not been in contact with any family member since Oct. 30, police were intrigued by reports from Viet and Thuy that their sister was trying to page them last week.
In an interview Thursday, Viet said, "Today, I guess, she paged us and she's fine. We didn't talk to her. She just paged and said `hello' and put in my code and her code."
Thuy said she thought her sister tried to page her Nov. 7.
Police received a tip over the weekend that Nguyen was seen leaving the campus in a car with Florida license plates.
Wiltse said that, at about the same time, the FBI called and offered its help in pursuing leads in the case.
Worrell revealed Wednesday that police knew that Nguyen received a call from her boyfriend on the morning of Oct. 30 before she and Thuy left for school. "It had always been assumed that the call had been placed in Florida," Worrell said. "But we think the call was placed from somewhere right here in town, and that he was making arrangements where to pick her up."
Worrell's scenario would explain why Nguyen's boyfriend was in Florida when Viet and the police talked with him by telephone a day after Nguyen disappeared.
Although Viet and Thuy originally said Nguyen had no problems with her family, Worrell said, "I don't know what her conflict is with her family. She's been recommended to call home, but that's up to her."
Members of Nguyen's family were unavailable for comment.
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Texas
May 8, 2004 21:58:10 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on May 8, 2004 21:58:10 GMT -5
COLLEGE STATION (AP) - A Texas A&M University student who vanished four days ago was located in East Texas Wednesday afternoon when she called her parents and told them she was OK, officials said.
Midland native Catherine Page Price, an 18-year-old freshman at A&M, was reported missing Sunday night when she failed to return to her dormitory after she visited her brother and attended a Bible study group.
"She is safe with police as we speak, waiting for her father to pick her up," said Martha Manulik of First Presbyterian Church in Midland.
Bob Wiatt, director of security at Texas A&M University, said Price called her mother in Midland from a telephone in Livingston. It was unclear what Price was doing there, or why she left school Sunday without telling anyone, Wiatt said.
Her disappearance prompted an extensive search across Central and West Texas that involved hundreds of volunteers. They canvassed roads between Midland and College Station, about 350 miles apart, Tuesday night and Wednesday. At one point, the Department of Public Safety deployed an airplane to try and spot Price's blue Ford Explorer.
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Texas
Jun 5, 2004 12:43:55 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Jun 5, 2004 12:43:55 GMT -5
Family finds body of teen on riverbankBelieving that authorities weren't doing enough to find a missing teen, relatives of Mirna Dominguez took it upon themselves to scour the Trinity River for any sign of her. Friday morning, they found her. The body of the 16-year-old Carter-Riverside High School student, who disappeared during Tuesday night's storm, was discovered by her father, uncles and brother about 11:30 a.m. along the river's west bank, northeast of downtown. The discovery ended a search that family members said should have begun much earlier and included more help from the police and fire departments. "It's not fair," Katherine Dominguez, Mirna Domin-guez's aunt by marriage, wailed shortly after the body was found. "If it would have been anybody else, they would have been searching and searching and searching until they found them." Lt. Gene Jones, a police spokesman, said police and firefighters began looking for Mirna Dominguez immediately after the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office notified them that she had probably been with her boyfriend when floodwaters swept his car away. The boyfriend, 17-year-old Fernando Vitolas, was found dead Wednesday morning in a creek in Trail Drivers Park, east of the Stockyards. Family members said they contacted police after Dominguez didn't return home by 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, a night when Fort Worth was pummeled by severe storms and heavy flooding. The family said the girl had gone with Vitolas to say goodbye to his mother, who was leaving for Mexico. Dominguez's relatives said dispatchers, who apparently did not understand Spanish, initially hung up on them. When they finally talked to someone with the Police Department, they were told police could not search for the missing teen until 24 hours had passed, the relatives said. "When he called for help, you expect somebody to help," said Joseph Yamine, a family friend who employs Dominguez's father. Jones said police are looking into the family's complaints. "We are going to look into the call series that this family may have made to us regarding the missing victim in an attempt to establish whether or not proper procedures were followed," he said. Jones said that procedure calls for dispatchers to tell Spanish-speaking callers "uno momento" before transferring them to a Spanish-speaking dispatcher. "What the person on the other end hears when they're being transferred is a loud click," he said. "I'm not saying this is what occurred. It's possible they heard the click and assumed they had been disconnected." Jones said police would not have begun looking for the teen immediately because there was no reason to believe that foul play was involved or that she had psychological problems that warranted a search. Bobby Miller, 61, called police during the storm Tuesday night after seeing a red Geo swept into the creek in Trail Drivers Park from a crossing that was under at least 2 1/2 feet of water. Responding firefighters and police searched the creek, but because of high water and darkness, found no trace of the car or its occupants. "With the conditions as they were, they didn't spot anything," said Lt. Kent Worley, a Fire Department spokesman. "It was just roaring, raging water." Wednesday morning, police found a two-door red Geo in the creek. Firefighters searched the creek again and found a body, later identified as that of Vitolas, north of the car. "At that point, there was no further information that we had that there was anyone else in the car," Worley said. Not until Thursday, when the department's traffic investigation unit received a call from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office, did police learn that Dominguez had been in Vitolas' car. A police supervisor was informed that Vitolas' family believed his girlfriend had been with him when his car was swept away, Jones said. Officials from the medical examiner's office also told police that the girlfriend's family had filed a missing persons report. "That's the point when two and two became four," Jones said. Fire Department personnel, including 14 divers, were called back to the creek to assist police in searching for the teen Thursday. "We had 14 people spending four hours going from one end from where the car went in all the way to the Trinity River, to where we were comfortable that she wasn't in the creek," Worley said. Worley said firefighters did not search the river because the water levels were still up and they didn't know where to focus the search. "It's such a large body of water, still murky and dangerous," Worley said. The Police Department planned to have a helicopter fly over the river periodically Friday to look for the missing teen. If anything suspicious had been sighted, the pilot would have notified the Fire Department to check it out, Worley said. Friday morning, after finding Dominguez's body, friends and relatives said they had been searching since 6:30 a.m. and had never seen the police helicopter. Jones said he did not know whether the helicopter had flown over the river before the family discovered the body. As the girl's father, Arnoldo Dominguez, stood solemnly nearby, Katherine Dominguez shouted that her brother-in-law shouldn't have had to find his daughter's body. "How would you all like it if it was your daughter and you couldn't get the Police Department to cooperate?" she asked. "You had to get out and look for her and find her dead. How would you like it?" She said she suspects that police were reluctant to help the Dominguezes because they are Hispanic. "Just because he's from another country, he shouldn't have to beg for help to find his daughter," she said. Jones said there is no truth to allegations that the family's nationality affected the department's service. www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/8846667.htm?1c
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Texas
Sept 22, 2004 16:43:30 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Sept 22, 2004 16:43:30 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]Body found in field identified as that of Rosenberg teen-ager[/glow] Fort Bend County Sheriff's investigators identified the body found Tuesday near Thompsons as a 17-year-old Rosenberg teen-ager.
Jeannie Gage, spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office, said investigators positively identified the body as Chad Krantz, who had been reported missing to the Rosenberg Police Department by a family member Monday.
Gage said the teen reportedly had been last seen by his family on Friday.
Investigators are still awaiting the results of an autopsy being performed at UTMB in Galveston to determine the cause of death, Gage said.
She said Sheriff's investigators are working with the Rosenberg Police Department regarding the case.
The body was found at about 3:20 p.m. in a field of tall grass near Pittman Road and Thompsons Highway by a pipeline mowing crew as the workers were leaving the area.
Gage said investigators believed the body had been in the field from 48 to 72 hours because of the state of decomposition.
At the scene, investigators could not determine if the teen had suffered a traumatic injury, said Gage.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Fort Bend Crime Stoppers at 281-342-TIPS (8477).
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Texas
Sept 28, 2004 14:21:00 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Sept 28, 2004 14:21:00 GMT -5
A woman lost for 34 years was found in the Bay Area Wednesday.
After having a stroke that lead to memory loss in 1970, Patricia Teer walked away from her home in Texas.
She reappeared in Seattle, Washington, in 1977 but never contacted her family.
Teer, who had been living in San Francisco for several years coping with severe memory loss, has a family for the first time in 34 years, NBC11's Jean Elle reported.
"I feel so lovely ... I feel like the most blessed person alive," Teer said, who has been living alone in a small room filled with reminders to take her medication and even where to eat.
The 64-year-old got a phone call Wednesday from two people she remembered well -- her sisters.
"I was crying like a bitty baby," Teer said. "I hadn't heard from her in so long, I couldn't believe it."
Suffering from brain damage, Teer wandered away from her home and two children in Texas in 1970, which is when one sister in Texas and the other in Alabama started searching for her.
Just this week, a Seattle detective tracked down Teer's social security number and an address in the tenderloin.
"She said: 'We found your sister alive and well,'" said Barbara Blankenship, Teer's sister. "Bless her heart, I think I busted her ear drum because I said: 'Praise the lord.'"
For the first time in three decades the sisters spoke.
"I said: 'Yes, you do you have your family back and you've got grandkids you've never seen before,'" said Mary Urick, Teer's sister. "You just don't know how precious it is after being missing so long to hear her voice"
For now, distance still separates this family.
But for the first time in a long time, they feel a sisterly bond they thought was lost forever, Elle reported.
The sisters are still working out a plan to have a face-to-face reunion.
In the meantime, Teer is expecting some pictures in the mail that will help bring her up to speed on the last 34 years.
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Texas
Oct 25, 2004 7:55:06 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Oct 25, 2004 7:55:06 GMT -5
The drowned body of Araceli Treviño, the 7-year-old Alvin girl who went missing from the back yard of her home Thursday, was found by police at about 6 p.m. Saturday, according to searchers.
Police recovered the body from a residential swimming pool about two blocks from the girl’s home in the 300 block of Adoue, Alvin Police Chief Mike Merkel said.
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Texas
Nov 3, 2004 4:07:52 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Nov 3, 2004 4:07:52 GMT -5
A gruesome discovery in a south side H-E-B parking lot in San Antonio Tuesday.
A man found murdered and wrapped in carpet in the trunk of a car. An employee at the H-E-B on Southwest Military Drive noticed the abandoned car and called police.
When police got there they found the car with keys in the ignition and the windows down. They opened the trunk and discovered the body of 37 year-old Tony Rodriguez.
No word on a suspect. Police think the murder may be gang related.
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Texas
Nov 12, 2004 20:12:21 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Nov 12, 2004 20:12:21 GMT -5
The body of a missing Oklahoma minister is found in Shell Lake, near Tulsa. 70-year-old Robert Bettis` body was wedged against an underground gate near the lake`s dam. Police say this latest find is adding more mystery to the case. The body of Bettis` wife was found November 4th. She had been decapitated.
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Texas
Nov 12, 2004 20:15:31 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Nov 12, 2004 20:15:31 GMT -5
Sand Springs Police say with the assistance of Oklahoma Highway Patrol divers, they have found the body of a man missing for more than a week. They believe Robert Bettis may have jumped into Shell Creek Lake last week. His wife's body was found decapitated in their home. Police had asked for Oklahoma Highway Patrol divers to help in the search for 70-year-old Robert Bettis. Those divers found Bettis' body Friday morning. Last week, Sand Springs Police teamed up with surrounding search teams to drag the lake for the body. Five boats were on the lake at a time, searching for clues. The Tulsa County Sheriff's helicopter even joined in the search, but couldn't locate Mr. Bettis. Police say the medical examiner is now conducting an autopsy of the body to confirm the cause of death. Assistant Police Chief Mike Carter says it did not appear that foul play was involved, but all possibilities will be examined. Police don't know why Sylvia Bettis was killed. A knife allegedly used in the murder and other personal items have been sent to crime labs in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. www.kotv.com/main/home/stories.asp?whichpage=1&id=72362
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Texas
Nov 29, 2004 4:02:37 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Nov 29, 2004 4:02:37 GMT -5
The father of Houston teen Jackie Munoz, missing since Wednesday morning, said he found his daughter safe but weary at a northside restaurant this morning.
The girl's father, Joe Munoz, who is an undercover investigator for the Harris County Sheriff's Department, said the 16-year-old ran away from home after a family argument.
Munoz learned about his daughter's location from a phone tip made by an informant who happened to recognize Jackie Munoz alone at a restaurant at Interstate 45 North and Crosstimbers. Because Jackie had been sleeping out of doors, Munoz took her to Texas Children's Hospital, where doctors said she was fine.
Volunteers had been searching for Munoz since Wednesday morning, when she she was last seen at a friend's house near her home in the 10100 block of Sage Gate.
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Texas
Dec 3, 2004 11:30:53 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Dec 3, 2004 11:30:53 GMT -5
Foul play is suspected in the death of a girl whose body was found in a canal several miles west of town Thursday. Authorities said they believe the victim is 11-year-old Doris Castro, a sixth-grader at Yolo Middle School who had been missing since Wednesday evening.
The case is being investigated as a homicide, Myron Larson, a Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department spokesman, said Thursday.
No suspects have been identified, Larson said. An autopsy was scheduled to be performed Thursday night.
Doris Castro lived in Newman with her parents, Ismael and Gabriela Castro, her brother Jairo, 17, and sister Cristal, 16.
Doris was last seen wearing blue jeans, a black shirt, white tennis shoes, and a black jacket with fur around the hood. She vanished about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday from her home in the 1400 block of P Street.
"She was here, sitting on the couch, watching TV," said Cristal during an interview at the breakfast-room table of the family's home.
A picture drawn by Doris was posted on the refrigerator a few feet away. In another room, the girls' mother wept as relatives tried to comfort her.
Others gathered outside the home. Neighbor Maria Garcia said in Spanish that Doris was a tranquil, well-behaved child: "She never goes out alone. She's always with her mother."
Cristal said the girls were alone in the house early Wednesday evening.
She said she went into the bathroom and heard Doris answer the door.
Cristal said she heard a male voice that she thought she recognized as the voice of a friend. Then, she said, Doris said Cristal was in the bathroom. Then, she heard the man say he would be back later, Cristal said.
"I heard the TV come back on," Cristal said. That meant Doris was back on the couch.
Cristal said she heard the door slam again. When she came out of the bathroom, Doris was gone.
So she went looking for her sister. First, at the Diamond Food Store across the alley from the house. Workers there had not seen Doris. Cristal then called Newman police. Police said that call came in about 8:30 p.m.
Cristal said she and others went to see if Doris had gone to visit friends.
"We started looking for her at all the houses," Cristal said.
On Thursday morning, family and friends passed out leaflets with the child's photo.
Police organized a door-to-door search. The Sheriff's Department and volunteers also searched the area.
The search eventually led about 2½ miles from her home, to the dirt-bank canal where volunteers spotted a body at about 1:15 p.m., Larson said.
As divers prepared to search the Central California Irrigation District canal, relatives waited behind yellow crime-scene tape at Shiells and Draper roads.
The Sheriff's Department blocked off nearly a square mile of territory as a crime scene.
People standing by the yellow tape could see flashing emergency vehicle lights by the canal, across about a half-mile of bare, furrowed fields.
Doris' father was among those standing in the cold wind. He declined to comment.
His sister-in-law, Maria Castro, was also there.
"We're waiting to find out if it's the child," she said in Spanish, wiping away a tear.
"Such terrible people, that take away children," Maria Castro said.
The body recovered was that of a girl wearing the same kind of clothes that Doris was last seen in, Larson said.
Although the family had been notified, the identification still had not been confirmed, he said.
Newman's most recent homicide occurred July 10. Ruben "Joey" Neuman was killed in a gang-related drive-by shooting at Kern and P streets.
Before that, there hadn't been a homicide in Newman for 7½ years. On Jan. 13, 1997, retired educators Gerrald and Amelia Hunt were stabbed to death in their home. Their granddaughter's husband, Wedson Demorais, was convicted of murdering them and sentenced to life in prison.
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Texas
Dec 4, 2004 22:26:29 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Dec 4, 2004 22:26:29 GMT -5
Authorities discovered the body of a woman late Saturday afternoon believed to be that of missing Alamo Heights teacher Dianne Tilly.
The body was found in east Bexar County about 150 feet off Scene Lake Drive and Boenig under some brush next to a fishing tank.
"We located a body that we believe to be Dianne Tilly," said Catherine Babbitt, of the Bexar County District Attorney's Office.
Detectives got a tip Friday that Tilly's body might have been dumped in the area.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine how the woman died and to make a positive identification.
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Texas
Dec 7, 2004 19:38:01 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Dec 7, 2004 19:38:01 GMT -5
The case of a missing Alamo Heights teacher came to a grim conclusion Saturday night after one of the suspects in the case led authorities the teacher’s body in a field in east Bexar County.
The prime suspect in the case, Ronnie Joe Neal, 33, faces capital murder charges in the death of Diane Allison Tilly.
Colleagues at Robbins Academy reported Tilly, 58, missing after she failed to show for a Thanksgiving luncheon Nov. 23.
Tilly’s burned 1998 Cadillac Fleetwood was recovered the next evening in vacant lot off Zuehl Road.
Police arrested Neal and his 15-year old daughter, Pearl Cruz, in a San Antonio hotel room.
“We received the information from an unidentified source that there was a body,” Sheriff’s investigator Lt. Dale Bennett told KENS-TV on Saturday.
The source of that information was later determined to be Cruz, who led investigators to a field at Scenic Lake Drive and Boenig Road on the Bexar County side of the Schertz city limits.
An arrest affidavit released Sunday by the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said Tilly was killed the night she disappeared, and both Cruz and Neal bragged during their detention about their involvement in Tilly’s disappearance and murder.
Investigators said Neal had been watching Tilly because “she had a lot of nice things in her house,” said Brittany Kennedy, a Bexar County juvenile detainee who had conversations Cruz during her detention.
According to the affadavit, Cruz told Kennedy she and Neal concocted a scheme in which Cruz would knock on Tilly’s door and pull a gun.
The affidavit states that Neal drove Cruz to Tilly’s home and gave Cruz the gun, and as planned, when Tilly opened her door, Cruz pulled out a gun and ordered Tilly on the floor.
Neal immediately came in to Tilly’s home, took her into a back bedroom where he raped her while Cruz held a gun to her.
Tilly was taken to a field in Schertz, where the affidavit states, Tilly begged for her life before being shot repeatedly by Neal.
Cruz, who is charged with aggravated robbery, reportedly made a deal with investigators with the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office.
It is unclear if she will face additional criminal charges.
Schertz Police Chief Steven Starr said the Schertz Police Department did not help during the search and declined to offer an official reaction by the city.
County Commissioner Jim Wolverton, who represents Schertz on the Guadalupe County Commissioners Court, said he had not spoken with his neighbors about the tragedy of Tilly’s murder, but felt revulsion about the incident.
“It’s just horrible,” Wolverton said. “To have a 15-year old girl hold a gun on her while he rapes her is just horrible. I don’t know what type of agreement they made with that girl, but she needs to get the same thing her daddy gets, and that’s the needle.”
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Texas
Dec 22, 2004 17:18:26 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Dec 22, 2004 17:18:26 GMT -5
Family members watched in horror Tuesday afternoon as Mission police pulled Manuel Alejandro Mendoza’s car up a canal bank just south of the intersection of Inspiration Road and Farm-to-Market Road 495.
His wife, Daisy, buried her head in her hands and her shoulders heaved as she cried. Mendoza’s brother stared off into space, and as each family member arrived at the scene, sets of arms were ready to catch and then hug as they learned why they were called.
Mendoza was reported missing about a week and a half ago after he didn’t return from a night of partying with friends on Dec. 11. Family members said it wasn’t in Mendoza’s character to leave his wife of three years and 2-year-old son, Jaylan, alone.
A passerby walking by the canal found Mendoza’s car with its tires up. When they first arrived at the canal bank, police said they didn’t know whether the bloated body inside the car was that of Mendoza. Letty Mendoza, Manuel’s aunt, said all the family could do was hope it was somebody else’s misfortune.
"We’re just waiting. We’re at a standstill," she said, tears in her eyes.
After the wrecker service dragged the vehicle up the steep embankment, the maroon four-door vehicle rested on the southside of the canalbank. Mission firefighters, trying to preserve the scene, cut the undercarriage of the car to remove the body.
Meanwhile, they placed a yellow sheet over the car to protect the privacy of the deceased man from the onlookers across the street.
The body looked like it had been in the canal for more than a week, said Mission Police Chief Leo Longoria.
On the northside of the canalbank, traffic investigators marked off skidmarks in the dirt — evidence that the vehicle went off the road, said Sgt. Martin Garza, spokesman for the Mission Police Department.
After about an hour, the body was placed into a black bag. Family members followed it to the embalming service, where they found out it was indeed their beloved husband, father, nephew — part of their life.
The jewelry, clothes and tennis shoes were the ones Mendoza wore the night of his disappearance, Garza said.
The case is still under investigation, Garza said. Police have not ruled the incident an accident or a homicide yet.
However, traffic investigators finished their investigation of the canal bank and concluded Mendoza was driving along the canal on the north side. He was headed west toward Inspiration Road. Apparently, he veered left into the canal, striking a pipe running width-wise across the canal on the way down, which flipped the car. Police interviews with Mendoza’s friends revealed he had been drinking heavily the night of his disappearance, too, Garza said.
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Texas
Jan 20, 2005 19:48:54 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Jan 20, 2005 19:48:54 GMT -5
Kelly Katherine Wagner was last seen by her mother on Dec. 27 as the two left their house to run errands. They were supposed to meet later for dinner the same day, Wagner's 28th birthday.
Relatives on Thursday made a positive identification of Wagner, Amarillo police Sgt. Randy TenBrink said.
Police located her 2000 Land Rover in the parking lot of an apartment complex early Jan. 2. The passenger-side window of the vehicle had been smashed in, but several items inside were not taken.
The lake where the body was found is only about 300 yards from the lake.
Wagner's body will be taken to Lubbock for an autopsy, TenBrink said.
Police have said the circumstances of her disappearance led them to believe that foul play was involved.
Wagner was from a prominent Amarillo family. Her grandmother was Jeanne Howe Kritser, an Amarillo civic leader. Her great-grandfather was Gene Howe, who established the Amarillo Globe-News.
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Texas
Jan 30, 2005 0:32:43 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Jan 30, 2005 0:32:43 GMT -5
Police Thursday located the body of Oscar Sanchez, a kidnapped and murdered Dallas business owner. Investigators said they located the body at Cedardale Road and Cleveland Drive, in an area near the Trinity River south of Dallas. They said the body was wrapped in plastic and dumped in the woods in an area about 50 feet from the road. "Back in the area, there was ... cardboard ... roofing shingles, there was trash back there. There was a lot of different things back in the area," Lt. Jan Easterling said. Police said they hadn't searched that location for the body until Thursday. The medical examiner's office confirmed the identity of the body late in the afternoon. About two-dozen officers this week had used helicopters, horses and dogs to comb about 40 acres of woods. Before recovering the body, investigators had recovered several pieces of evidence, including a mop and a truck bed liner. www.ksat.com/news/4139704/detail.html
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Texas
Feb 10, 2005 12:14:54 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Feb 10, 2005 12:14:54 GMT -5
Bones found about 18 months ago in Fort Bend County are those of a Houston teenager who was last seen when she left home for school one morning, police said.
Sugar Land police said DNA analysis confirmed the skeletal remains found Aug. 13, 2003, near the U.S. 59 southbound turnaround at the Brazos River are those of Maria Solis, 16.
The family's hopes were dashed by Wednesday's devastating news, said Isabel Solis, the teen's aunt.
"She was a very responsible, good person who had many plans for her future," she said. "She wanted to be a chemist."
The teen was reported missing by her family on March 3, 2003. The freshman had not been seen since about 9 a.m. when her father dropped her off on Griggs and Grace in southeast Houston to catch a Metropolitan Transit Authority bus to George I. Sanchez Charter High School.
Family members said Solis got on the bus and was supposed to transfer at Scott and Old Spanish Trail. She never made it to school, which is operated by the Association for the Advancement of Mexican-Americans.
The disappearance triggered a huge search in the neighborhood but no substantial clues were found.
The remains were discovered by crews cutting trees in a heavily wooded area about 50 yards from the river.
There was no clothing or jewelry at the site, giving police few clues as to the identity or gender of the remains.
Two months after the discovery, Sugar Land police said forensic tests showed the young woman was a homicide victim but detectives declined to offer any details about the exact cause of death.
The Brazos River turnaround, a U-turn under the bridge on the east bank, was closed in 1995 by Texas highway officials after local leaders complained about the high incidence of crime and accidents.
The site has a reputation as a dumping ground for bodies. Houston and Sugar Land police are investigating the Solis case.
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Texas
Feb 15, 2005 9:22:01 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Feb 15, 2005 9:22:01 GMT -5
A small plane that had been missing for a month was found by a rancher where it had crashed into a grove of trees.
Audi Sanford was spreading Bermuda grass for his cattle Monday afternoon when he found the wreckage of Dr. Jack Nolen's missing plane. Remains found in it were believed to be those of Nolen.
"It was in a grove of thick trees _ looked like it had hit almost dead on," Sanford said. "The motor and undercarriage just circled a tree."
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman John Clabes said the crashed plane's tailfin number was that of Nolen's plane. The National Transportation Safety Board planned an investigation into the crash, and state medical examiner's office was to make a positive identification of the remains.
Nolen, 73, recently retired as Muskogee Regional Medical Center's medical director, was last seen leaving the Paris, Texas, airport Jan. 14 on his way to Shawnee. He was the only person on board the single-engine, two-seat homebuilt airplane.
The search by the Oklahoma Civil Air Patrol had been called off after nine days. Dozens of volunteers also helped in the search.
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Texas
Mar 8, 2005 9:29:15 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Mar 8, 2005 9:29:15 GMT -5
SAN ANGELO, Texas The family of a missing Dyess Air Force Base airman says his body has been recovered from a stock tank on a West Texas ranch.
The stepsister of Staff Sergeant Michael Leslie Severance says his body was found in 10 to 20 feet of water in a tank 15 miles northeast of San Angelo. She says his body had been weighted with cinderblocks and his death ruled a homicide.
The 24-year-old airman had been missing since January 15th. He lived in San Angelo but was assigned to Dyess in Abilene, about 90 miles to the northeast.
According to a police report filed by Severance's wife, the airman had been behaving out of character before he disappeared. Severance was married four months ago and also leaves behind a five-month-old son.
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Texas
Mar 10, 2005 12:19:18 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Mar 10, 2005 12:19:18 GMT -5
Owens, 77, was last seen March 1 on her way to a Wal-Mart in Corsicana. Her car was found abandoned off a muddy road in Corsicana on Saturday. The body was discovered just east of the car. The woman's purse and other belongings were nearby. None of Owens' personal items were found in the vehicle, but several empty beer cans were. Family members said she doesn't drink but does collect cans for recycling. Because Owens has short-term memory loss, her friends and family said it was possible that she became disoriented and wandered off. Authorities believe Owens wandered away after her car got stuck but have not said what caused her death. www.nbc5i.com/news/4264616/detail.html
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Texas
Apr 28, 2005 22:19:04 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Apr 28, 2005 22:19:04 GMT -5
The body of a missing woman who recently gave birth was found Wednesday. Edwards County sheriff officials said the body of 34-year-old Yaneth Martinez was discovered off a road about 30 miles from Rocksprings. Sheriff officials said it appeared Martinez's car went through a guard rail and down a steep hill. Martinez, who was reported missing earlier this week, gave birth to a baby three weeks ago and was on medication for post-partum depression. www.ksat.com/news/4427178/detail.html
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Texas
Jul 17, 2005 9:23:20 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Jul 17, 2005 9:23:20 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]Jane Davis[/glow] Davis was found safe in 2005. She had been missing since November 29, 2004 from Lufkin, Texas.
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Texas
Jul 29, 2005 11:37:48 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Jul 29, 2005 11:37:48 GMT -5
The body of Margaret Wilson White was spotted by a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Friday at 10:20 a.m. Wilson has been missing since Wednesday last week when she didn't arrive in Houston as planned. Her van was abandoned on RR 12 between Wimberley and San Marcos. Her body was found about 400 yards from where her van was found. Previous searches did not find her because they ended 150 yards away from where her body lay. Investigators would not say what condition her body was in and they have not determined her manner of death. www.news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=142280
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Texas
Mar 7, 2006 11:45:47 GMT -5
Post by LadyBlue on Mar 7, 2006 11:45:47 GMT -5
Investigators have ruled homicide in the death of a 30-year-old woman whose body was discovered beneath a drainage pipe on the South Side.
No suspects have been named.
A homebuilder found the remains of Esperanza Ortiz in a drainage ditch off Shane Road on Friday, two weeks after the woman's family reported her missing.
Ortiz, a mother of two sons, had gone out for cigarettes the night of Feb. 13 wearing a gray blouse and light-blue pants, said her aunt, Sandra Castro. She never returned.
Her family launched a massive search after her disappearance from her West Side neighborhood, Castro said, posting fliers of the woman nicknamed "Hopie."
A cause of death has not been determined, police spokesman Joe Rios said.
Anyone with information about Ortiz's death should call police at (210) 207-7635 or (210) 207-7389.
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