Saturday, May 30, 2009

Investigation launched into woman's death

Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Staff Writer; cgarcia@news-bulletin.com

A woman found dead in a trashcan in Taos County in March has been positively identified as a missing Valencia County woman.

Valencia County Detective Aaron Jones said the woman, 33-year-old Gladys Garcia, was reported missing in July 2007. The detective said Garcia, who is originally from Albuquerque, had been living in Peralta for three years prior to her disappearance.

"The investigation is ongoing and, because she was reported missing from here in Valencia County, it is our case," Jones said. "We do have a few strong leads in this case, but other than that, I can't comment any further."

Jones did say that Garcia was recently positively identified through dental records in addition to her family's identification of the tattoos on her leg.

According the Taos County Undersheriff Ed Romero, Garcia was located by three people on March 21 in a dumpster found about 100 feet from the roadside off N.M. 68. Jones said the woman had been stuffed into a residential rollout receptacle which he believes came from somewhere in Valencia County.

"If we can find out where this trash can belongs to, it will help our investigation immensely," Jones said. The detective said the serial number located on the trashcan revealed that it belongs to someone in Valencia County but isn't assigned to any specific residence.

The detective said while the case has been ruled a "violent homicide" a manner of death has not yet been determined.

"Until we know otherwise, we're treating Ms. Garcia's death as a homicide," Jones said. "We're still investigating, and I hope to be able to resolve this case soon."

Jones did say while he's not 100 percent sure that this case is connected to another homicide that occurred earlier this year, he says the two victims were involved in "the same circles" and were living "at risk" lifestyles. The case the detective referred to is that of the death of 28-year-old Tiffany Lauer Ventura.

Ventura's body was found in January underneath a mattress in the desert about three miles east of the Monterey Park and El Cerro Mission subdivision. Jones said that they believe Ventura, who died from a blunt force trauma to the head, had been dead for about three months before her body was discovered.

If anyone has information about either of these two cases, they are asked to call Valencia County Sheriff's Detective Aaron Jones at 866-2400.

E-mail this story Printer-friendly version