Tip in 2001 disappearance of New Mexico girl emerges after new search of Colorado property | EUROtoday

For greater than twenty years, there was little motion within the case of a lacking New Mexico girl who vanished from her hometown – however a latest search has attracted long-awaited consideration and sparked new suggestions, together with one which investigators say is “pretty good.”

Melissa Montoya was 42 years outdated when she went lacking on March 9, 2001, after an evening out in Dulce, New Mexico, on the Jicarilla Apache Nation Reservation.

Two months later, her then-boyfriend was discovered useless at their Colorado residence. A short while after that, the home burned to the bottom.

Melissa’s mysterious disappearance was reported to native authorities, who questioned the boyfriend, who was later thought-about a suspect, and performed an preliminary search of the property. But with no leads, the case rapidly went chilly.

On November 3, 2024, almost 24 years after Melissa went lacking, officers from a number of native businesses together with three cadaver canine returned to the identical property in Archuleta County, Colorado.

An all-day search of the 50-acre property in Colorado resulted in defeat when officers got here up with nothing, leaving Melissa’s family members devastated and left with extra questions.

But what occurred the subsequent day has given them recent hope. New suggestions have trickled in, together with one which was known as into police after the individual noticed a Dateline NBC story concerning the search on social media.

“It appears to be significant,” Darlene Gomez, a buddy and cousin of Melissa’s, instructed The Independent just a few days later. “And I know that the police are looking into the tip.”

Law enforcement officers confirmed the tip to The Independent and mentioned it seems to be from a lady who says she heard from her important different about an off-putting encounter he had with the suspect, who was a buddy of his, on the night time Melissa went lacking.

Investigators instructed The Independent that due to new areas talked about within the tipster’s account, a number of businesses are concerned and are working to “corroborate her claims” and presumably attain out to people who could have details about that night time.

Gomez, who was in regulation college when Melissa disappeared, is now an lawyer and has been advocating for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) instances for greater than 20 years. She continues to push for solutions in her buddy’s case and has turn into the liaison between the household and regulation enforcement.

“Nobody wanted to talk about it,” Gomez mentioned. “One of my biggest concerns now is could I have done more in the beginning.”

“I believe that as I became powerful in my own voice, growing into my own voice as a woman and as a woman of color, I was able to kind of press the issue forward,” she mentioned.

She instructed The Independent that she hopes the renewed consideration on the case will generate suggestions that would end in potential leads, and in the end imply discovering Melissa.

For over 20 years there have been no floor searches, no lacking individual posters, no requires motion. What occurred to Melissa was a thriller and Gomez continues to be afraid that the case would possibly by no means be solved.

“This morning I started crying,” she mentioned, her voice cracking. “Because… I don’t know if I’m ever going to find her.”

The disappearance of Melissa Montoya

In March 2001, Melissa lived together with her boyfriend in Colorado simply throughout the border from her hometown of Dulce, New Mexico, Jicarilla Apache Nation Reservation.

According to Gomez, there was a historical past of home abuse within the relationship and Melissa was determined to get out.

In the times main as much as her disappearance, she had instructed members of the family that if one thing ever occurred to her, it might be by the hands of her associate.

“She was definitely afraid to leave him,” Gomez mentioned, including that there was nowhere for her to go. “At that time, there were not any domestic violence shelters in the area, no resources that would protect Melissa.”

“No one reached out to help her,” Gomez added. “She was trapped and she knew she was trapped.”

So Melissa stayed together with her boyfriend.

On March 9, 2001, Melissa went to a St Patrick’s Day get together on the Jicarilla Apache House of Spirits, often known as “The Zoo,” that was as soon as located on Jicarilla Apache Reservation. After she left the bar that night time, she was by no means seen or heard from once more.

A useless suspect

About a month after Melissa was formally reported lacking that May, her boyfriend was discovered useless at his residence.

Jicarilla Apache Nation Police Criminal Investigator Chris Rafferty instructed The Independent that the person’s demise was dominated a suicide on the time. A short while later, the home on the Colorado property burned down, including one other twist to the thriller.

Investigator Rafferty defined that the boyfriend, who was not named, was thought-about to be a suspect in Melissa’s disappearance and that he was even questioned on the time.

“He says they weren’t together at the bar, but we had a lot of witnesses that said they were,” Rafferty instructed Dateline in an earlier interview concerning the boyfriend. But it’s the “boyfriend who was the one that she left with the night that she went missing,” he mentioned.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, which can be concerned within the investigation, reportedly did its personal interviews round city, however nothing got here from them.

Rafferty defined that the largest difficulty that they’re coping with is incomplete police reviews from 20 years in the past, together with a scarcity of proof and a useless suspect.

“We’re basically starting from scratch,” he mentioned.

Another issue within the difficult case is the numerous regulation enforcement businesses who’ve a hand within the investigation.

The Jicarilla Apache Nation Police Department is the lead investigating company whereas the investigation into the boyfriend’s demise was dealt with by the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado. The search on Sunday was additionally launched by the sheriff’s workplace.

A brand new lead

In May 2024, Gomez acquired an electronic mail that she believes obtained the ball rolling in Melissa’s case after greater than 20 years.

“I got an email from a woman who was looking for her missing loved one from California and came across the NamUs record showing that human remains belonging to a Native American female between the ages of 30 years old and 60 years old were found in Dulce, New Mexico,” Gomez defined.

“She had then cross-referenced it to women who were missing from the area and found out the only woman that matched that description was Melissa Montoya.”

Gomez instantly alerted the Jicarilla Apache Nation Police Department and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The bones had been found again in 2020 close to the place Melissa went lacking and had been saved in a police room, however had not been examined.

So Gomez pushed for the proof to be examined.

“They were tested,” Investigator Rafferty instructed Dateline in a July interview, referring to once they had been first found in 2020. “Initially, they came back as a — as a female.”

“At first, I really thought those bones were hers,” Gomez mentioned. “So for six weeks, I didn’t sleep, I didn’t eat.”

So when Gomez acquired the letter, it reinvigorated the investigation – they usually examined the bones once more. Unfortunately, it turned out that the stays belonged to a male.

“The technology we have now is slightly better than it was back then,” Gomez mentioned, including it was not the result they had been hoping for.

But hope would come once more a number of months later.

“I really feel like if it was not for the woman who sent me the email from California, I mean, that is what got the ball rolling,” Gomez instructed The Independent.

She additional defined that the investigator was not even conscious that Melissa went lacking from Dulce, just because there was not a system to trace lacking and murdered people.

A hopeful search

On November 3, 2024, officers from a number of regulation enforcement businesses descended on the Colorado property in Archuleta County hoping to discover a clue as to Melissa’s whereabouts.

Jicarilla Apache Chief of Police Joseph Schake instructed Dateline that the search took place following a overview of the division’s open chilly instances.

They known as within the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office, because the property falls inside its jurisdiction.

Sheriff Mike Le Roux famous that they had been in a position to cowl an enormous space of the property in “perfect” search circumstances. Three canine had been introduced in to help within the search, however none of them registered a constructive identification for something.

Le Roux identified {that a} lengthy time frame had handed and that his understanding is that the canines “have the ability to detect human remains in excess of 20 years.”

Gomez instructed The Independent that she obtained a rundown of what occurred throughout the search from the sheriff. She mentioned two main points that would impede the search or future searches was that the fireplace destroyed the principle construction.

And through the years, many new constructions had gone up, hindering entry to sure locations the place they could discover proof or perhaps a physique.

Despite not discovering something within the search, Gomez instructed The Independent that she is glad they had been in a position to do it.

“I’m so very grateful that the property owners allowed us to have that search,” she mentioned, including that whereas the search was being carried out, she and different family members, and MMIW supporters rallied on the town with vivid indicators that featured Melissa’s face.

Over the years, there was little to no media protection of Melissa’s case.

“No one had seen an article about it. Nothing printed in the local newspaper, nothing came out on the news, nothing on the radio,” she mentioned, including that her case might have already been solved if her story had been instructed.

“So potentially there’s 24 years of witnesses who have not been interviewed, 24 years of witnesses — and someone must know something.”

No further searches are deliberate on the time, however investigators mentioned that, as new suggestions are available in, they may examine each.

“For me, I’m extremely grateful that the police department is actively working this case,” Gomez mentioned. “It gives me hope.”

‘Almost 24 years later, it’s lastly taking place for us’

Darlene Gomez has advocated for the MMIW since she went to regulation college, about the identical time Melissa went lacking, nevertheless it’s her buddy’s disappearance that has all the time been the driving drive behind what she does for others.

She has taken on dozens of MMIW instances professional bono, and gives basic counsel for Medicine Wheel Ride — a non-profit that creates consciousness and fundraises for points affecting Indigenous individuals.

“I am very blessed,” she mentioned. “I got to live a wonderful life. But then I think of Melissa and think she didn’t get to leave for college, she didn’t get to travel the world, she didn’t get the chance to go buy makeup at Sephora or go to nice restaurants – instead she got poverty and domestic abuse.”

Gomez takes the anger and unhappiness of her grief and the lack of Melissa’s life and makes use of it to assist others who could have as soon as been in Melissa’s sneakers.

“All of the odds and all of the cycles I had to break to be an attorney and to be able to advocate missing and murdered indigenous relatives, I really think God put me in this place to be an attorney and I feel like this is my calling,” she mentioned. “I try to help other families find their missing because I know what it’s like to have someone who’s gone.”

But now, it simply could also be her flip for some hope with the ball rolling in Melissa’s case.

“I think this also gives other families hope, because almost 24 years later, this is finally happening for us,” she mentioned.

“I pray every day to please help me find her,” Gomez mentioned. “I just worry that if I can’t find her, her spirit will wander all over, and then she will not be able to rest.”

Gomez mentioned her essential purpose is to deliver Melissa residence to the reservation, to be buried together with her dad and mom subsequent to the river.

“Just knowing that she is at peace – that’s what I want for her,” she mentioned. “I can’t bear to think that her bones are just laying out there and no one has given her a proper prayer or shown her any love. We need her home.”

Anyone with details about Melissa’s disappearance is requested to name the Jicarilla Apache Nation Police Department at 575-759-3222 or attain out to them on their Facebook web page.