Thread: Colorado - Arrest made in gruesome murder

http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGN ... 89c01ca7bf

Arrest made in gruesome murder
written by: Sara Gandy Web Producer

Created: 9/20/2006 9:06 AM MST - Updated: 9/20/2006 12:07 PM MST
DOUGLAS COUNTY - The sheriff's office said Wednesday morning they have not yet identified the female victim who was murdered by being dragged behind a vehicle but an arrest has been made.

An autopsy report says a woman was alive and died while she was being dragged behind a vehicle for more than a mile. 9NEWS at 10 p.m. September 19, 2006.

9NEWS reported earlier that the victim had been identified, but Douglas County Sheriff Dave Weaver stated they had not yet made a formal identification.

During the Wednesday morning press conference, Weaver also said the suspect, Jose Luis Rubi-Nava, 36 of Glendale, was being held on first degree murder charges. Weaver added that "a detainer has been placed" on Rubi-Nava from Immigration Customs Enforcement because he is believed to be in the country illegally.

He is currently being held at the Douglas County jail on a no-bond hold.


Rubi-Nava

The suspect, who currently lives in Glendale, was arrested in Douglas County. Authorities plan to serve several search warrants Wednesday, one of which will be at his residence in Glendale.

"I would like to assure the residents of Surrey Ridge and Douglas County that this location was randomly selected," Weaver said.

9NEWS obtained Rubi-Nava's records through the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. The records show that Rubi-Nava was arrested on April 21 and charged with false identification, no driver's license and no proof of insurance.
Rubi-Nava will be advised in court at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

An autopsy of the woman was released Tuesday showing that she was still alive as she was being dragged behind a vehicle for more than a mile.

The Douglas County Coroner's office said Tuesday evening the unidentified woman died from head injuries and asphyxiation due to blunt force trauma and strangulation because she was dragged behind a vehicle.

Authorities said test results for drugs and alcohol could take another three weeks.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Douglas County Sheriff's office announced it had detained several witnesses in connection to the case.

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The woman's body was found naked in a field beside Surrey Drive, near the Surrey Ridge Subdivision, early Monday morning.

Her face was unrecognizable because of the injuries she had sustained, police said.

A small memorial to the woman has been put up on the side of the road.

Investigators also found a photo of a couple during a search of the crime scene, but say they are not sure if the photo is related to the incident and do not have any reason to believe the woman in the photo is the victim.

Douglas County Sheriff Dave Weaver also says he wants to thank the citizens who came forward with information regarding the case.

Previous articles before arrest was made.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/l ... 73,00.html

Photo found along stretch of Surrey Road near the crime scene. The people in the photo are not identified.

Blood on road leads to body
Woman dragged by vehicle in rural Douglas County

By Bianca Prieto, Rocky Mountain News
September 19, 2006
DOUGLAS COUNTY - A bloody trail almost two miles long on a paved rural road led investigators to the body of a woman who was dragged behind a vehicle.
Douglas County sheriff's deputies said the victim was unrecognizable. They did not know her identity or why she was killed early Monday morning.

Police would not say whether they had any suspects or knew the type of vehicle involved.

The woman's body was found on the shoulder of Surrey Road, west of Exit 191 on Interstate 25, at about 2:40 a.m. by a passerby who called police.

Police described the woman as either Caucasian, Hispanic or American Indian, 5 feet tall and 130 to 140 pounds. She had light hazel or green eyes. Her reddish-brown, shoulder- length hair may have been dyed and was fastened in a ponytail.

An autopsy will be performed to determine how she died, police said.

A stretch of Surrey Road was shut down for about 10 hours as deputies combed the crime scene for evidence, said Kim Castellano, sheriff's office spokeswoman.

She said deputies found a photograph along the road of a couple, but don't know whether the woman in the photo is the victim or even if the photo is related to the case. Authorities want to talk to the pair if someone can identify them.

Both people in the photo have dark hair and dark eyes and are standing side by side in what looks like a garage or cellar. The woman is dressed in a flowered, patchwork sweater. The man has a trimmed mustache.

Residents of the rural neighborhood in unincorporated Douglas County expressed shock at the crime.

"I've lived here 18 years and nothing like that has ever happened," said Phil Vieira, who could see the blood in the road from his doorstep.

Vieira said police came to his house around 6 a.m. and asked him to stay inside while they investigated a possible homicide.

When his wife tried to leave to go to work around 8:30, police wouldn't let her leave and told her to go back inside, he said.

"Blood was all over, every place that he or whoever dragged her," Vieira said as he stood near his front door with his Labrador, Jill.

The dog, who normally lets him know when people are around, didn't bark at all Sunday night, Vieira said.

The sheriff's office received several phone calls Monday about missing people and is looking into each one, but has not yet found a match, Castellano said.

Around noon, a public works crew was called to wash away the blood that stained the road, she said.

Investigators request that anyone with information about the crime or the photograph call the Douglas County Sheriff's Office at 303-660-7579.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/l ... 04,00.html

Dragging death probe
Photo leads to people whom investigators classify as witnesses
Douglas County Sheriff's Department investigators walk along Surrey Drive looking over a darkened line in the blacktop where they believe a woman died after being dragged behind a car for more than a mile in an unincorporated portion of the county. Residents of Surrey Ridge have put together a memorial for the victim.
Linda McConnell © News

September 20, 2006
DOUGLAS COUNTY - A photo found near a gruesome murder scene Monday led Douglas County investigators to several people who they believe have information about the slaying.
Sheriff's deputies interviewed several people Tuesday, said spokeswoman Lt. Kim Castellano. She classified them as witnesses, but would not release more information.

"It has been linked to some of the information that we have used to identify some witnesses," Castellano said of the photograph of a man and a woman found near the crime scene and released late Monday.

"We have no reason to believe the woman in the photo is our victim," she added.

An autopsy completed on Tuesday found that the woman was alive when someone wrapped a tow strap around her neck and began to drag her behind a vehicle.

The preliminary cause of death was determined to be severe head injuries coupled with strangulation, Castellano said.

The unidentified woman was found around 2:40 a.m. near Surrey Drive and Corral Road by a passerby leaving for work, neighbors said.

She was dragged behind the vehicle for more than a mile.

The pavement is still stained with blood where her body was found.

Exit 191 west of Interstate 25 leads to a two-lane road filled with curves and spotted with houses. There are no gas stations, restaurants or rest stops.

A three-inch-wide bloodstain remains along Surrey Drive for more than a mile.

Efforts to clean it up, including power washing and street sweeping, haven't lessened the reminder of the brutal death, residents said.

A rose rests against a homemade wooden cross planted in the ground a few feet from where the woman's mangled body was found early Monday.

Scrawled along the wood in black ink are three Bible verses, including the 23rd Psalm.

Combined, they deliver a message that asks for someone to speak for the voiceless and a warning about fighting against a greater evil power.

"Everyone is so affected by this because it's so heinous," said Judy Machut, who has lived in the area for 30 years.

"You wish that there would have been someone who wasn't sleeping well that night that might have noticed (something)."

In an equestrian neighborhood where riding alone was the norm, the bizarre murder has neighbors rethinking their plans.

"We need to double up," McNary said. "We need to re-enact the buddy system."

Castellano said the neighborhood is not in danger despite the nature of the crime.

"I know the quality of the investigators and the great work they do," Castellano said. "This is very solvable."

Woman's description

Douglas County sheriff's deputies need help identifying a woman found dragged to death on Surrey Road west of Exit 191 on Interstate 25. She is:

• 5 feet tall

• 130 to 140 pounds

• Hazel or green eyes

• Auburn shoulder-length hair

• Caucasian, Hispanic or American Indian

• Call with information: 303-660-7579

prietob@RockyMountainNews.com 303-954-5219

This is one of the most gruesome deaths I have ever heard of except for the Jasper Tx dragging death of Mr. James Byrd. I cannot manage to wrap my brain around the fact that a human being could orchestrate this kind of death for another human being! It brings out the eye for an eye part of me and leaves me feeling so hateful toward this trash that I could easily compehend the same death for the animal who did this.I don't like this feeling in me, however, I feel I should be honest and admit that I could condone a like death for another human and that is a disgrace on my part. I am sorry though, I just don't feel this "man" who perpetrated this death should in any way have a more humane death such as by lethal injection. I guess we as human beings, compassionate ones that is, still have a very long way to go, if any of us could even suggest this kind of death for another! I remember a statement in a movie that really caught my attention, it was something like this, Our tecknology has far outdistanced our humanity or something close to that, it is so true. When I heard the name of this man, I immediately jumped to the fact in my mind that I bet he was an illegal alien, looks like that jump I made may be born out before this is over, if so, we need to all write a letter to our President telling him, that once again his fears has been realized by someone sneaking into our country and brutally killing one of our US citizens, and just what in the hell is he going to do about it? Will he now be a bit more willing to secure our borders against animals like this before maybe it might be one of his own daughters, that might be on the recieving end of a like atrocious crime like this, because none of us are immune from acts of violence like this not even his family, God Forbid!

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/l ... 13,00.html

Man ID'd from photo
Station cites officials claiming confession was made in slaying

By Bianca Prieto and Ivan Moreno, Rocky Mountain News
September 21, 2006
DOUGLAS COUNTY - Sheriff's deputies have arrested a 36-year-old Glendale man in a dragging death that horrified a rural neighborhood.
Douglas County sheriff's deputies said Wednesday that they arrested Jose Luis Rubi-Nava on suspicion of first-degree murder in connection with the death of a woman whose body was found early Monday in the Surrey Ridge subdivision.

CBS 4 News reported that authorities said Rubi-Nava confessed to the slaying during an interview Tuesday with a Spanish- speaking interrogator from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

Authorities identified Rubi-Nava, a suspected illegal immigrant, from a tattered picture of a man and woman found near the crime scene.

The photo was released late Monday and led to numerous calls that helped to identify and ultimately arrest Rubi-Nava.

Authorities have not confirmed the identity of the woman in the picture or the victim.

However, a close family friend and roommate said he believes the victim is Luz Maria Franco Fierro, a 50-year-old from the southern Mexican state of Guerrero.

Cesar Gustavo Garcia Flores, 20, who said he's known Fierro most of his life, said he sometimes saw her and Rubi-Nava arguing. Flores said he lived with Rubi-Nava, Fierro and another male roommate in a Glendale apartment complex.

"He hit her once and she kicked him out of the apartment a couple of times," said Flores.

Speaking in Spanish, Flores said he once heard Fierro tell Rubi-Nava, "Get out of here. Either you're going to kill me or I'm going to kill you."

But Rubi-Nava would come back, Flores said.

Zulma Pulgarin, 31, who lived on the same floor as the victim, said Fierro and Rubi-Nava argued like any other couple. Sometimes after their arguments, Pulgarin said Fierro would tell her, "He's back, and he even did the laundry for me."

Pulgarin said Fierro told her she was happy with Rubi-Nava, despite her knowledge that he has a wife and children in Mexico.

The woman in the photo with Rubi-Nava is his wife, according to Flores and Pulgarin. Flores said when he saw that picture in news reports, he was certain Rubi-Nava had killed Fierro. The picture also prompted Fierro's co-workers at a fast-food restaurant to call the police, Flores said.

Pulgarin said she had become accustomed to Fierro's visits every morning before work and began to worry Monday when she didn't see her friend.

The woman's body was found near Surrey Drive and Corral Road around 2:30 a.m. Monday by a passerby. An autopsy determined that she was alive when she was tied to a vehicle and dragged for more than a mile.

The slaying left a bloodstain more than a mile long down Surrey Drive. Maintenance crews worked Tuesday to cover the road with tar.

"I thought it was odd that she hadn't visited me these last few days," Pulgarin said in Spanish. "Because she would always come visit every morning. She felt really sad" recently because one of her daughters had surgery in Mexico and Fierro couldn't be with her.

Fierro was working two jobs to help her family, who still live in Mexico, she said.

Maria Magdaleno, 27, an employee at an Arby's restaurant at East Florida Avenue and South Colorado Boulevard, said Fierro would occasionally stop by the restaurant to sell them prepared sweet corn.

Fierro's relatives have yet to be notified, Flores said. She has three daughters and a son, he said.

Rubi-Nava made his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon, where he was advised of the charges against him.

He entered the courtroom shackled, wearing a red jumpsuit, his hair disheveled, with a stubble of a beard and bloodshot eyes. He stared straight ahead during the 30- minute hearing, listening to the proceedings through an interpreter.

The judge agreed to seal the case file and will consider a gag order requested by the defense attorney. Rubi-Nava is being held without bail.

After learning from a detective that her friend down the hall had been killed, Pulgarin said she thought, "Someone must have felt a lot of hatred to have choked and then dragged her."

He is an animal. No conscious and cold blooded. We do not need this level of violence coming into our country. It seems to be excepted in countries south of the border. President Bush should be sent all article of the brutality these people import!! Hang em high!!!