BajaNomad - Queretaro Murder

Queretaro Murder

lizard lips - 2-16-2014 at 12:53 PM

This is a little chapter I wrote about a case I investigated a few years ago in the state of Queretaro. Thought you may enjoy it.

QUERETARO MURDER

The city of Queretaro is also the name of the state and is approximately a 2-½ hour drive north of Mexico City. It is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited. The history of this city is rich with the development of Mexican culture. At one time during the Mexican American War Queretaro was the country’s capitol. The old churches dating back to the 1500 hundreds are pristine.

I have worked in the state of Queretaro on several occasions and had read up on its history and visited many different cities.

I received an investigation regarding the death of a 26-year-old woman who was murdered in the mountains south of the capitol city, Queretaro. The only information I had was that she was found with a bullet to the back of her head in a remote area in the municipality of Jalpan. According to information already gathered by the insurance company, the insured, Mrs. Lara, lived in Atlanta Georgia with her husband and three young children and wanted to visit her family in Jalpan Queretaro and attend the funeral for an aunt that had just passed away.

The beneficiary of this $250.000.00 policy was her husband Francisco. That’s about all I knew so it was necessary to review all of the investigative reports in Mexico and determine if this was a valid claim.

I arrived in Mexico City, took a bus to Queretaro and rented a car. I checked into a hotel I have stayed at before and the next morning took off to the mountains known as “Sierra Gorda” at 4:00 a.m. This was before there was GPS available so I had to rely on my map and I knew it would take about three to four hours to get there.

After driving for about an hour I started to climb the mountain on this two-lane road. As the elevation increased the scenery became more and more beautiful. Tall pines trees lined the highway as well as wild burros that were feasting on the tall grass along the highway. Due to the fog and the burros as well as the winding road my speed was not much more than twenty miles per hour. There were also several three sided shacks with locals selling everything from fresh produce to “Gorditas” which are pastry filled with meat or cheese. I stopped and had a few and they are delicious and quite filling but if you are on a diet stay away from these tasty treats!

I arrived at the Jalpan Municipal Police Department that was within walking distance to one of the first Spanish Franciscan Missions built in this area back in the 1750’s. The police office was closed and there was a sign that said it would open at 8:00 a.m. but it was well after nine so I decided to visit the mission church. The entrance to the church was open and a few people were inside sitting in the pews praying. The church was beautiful and you could tell it was very old and in need of repair and a few coats of paint. Apparently Padre Junipero Serra was instrumental in building not only this mission but also the four others in the area. After the missions were set up in Sierra Gorda Padre Serra went to Baja California and built several more missions all the way up to San Francisco.

The history of the Franciscans coming to these areas to teach the ways of Catholicism was interesting. The Indians that occupied the mountains of Sierra Gorda were scared out of their minds with the preaching from these Spanish Franciscans. Most succumbed and led the life of a catholic and some hid in the mountains and a few were so scared they committed suicide.

This small town was nothing more than a few one-story shops in very old buildings and the city government office.You could tell this small city has not changed very much in hundreds of years.

I walked back to the police office and there was a young officer in uniform sitting behind an old wooden desk. His uniform was about two sizes to big for him and the badge he was wearing on his chest was hanging down due to the extra material. I explained why I was there and asked if this department investigated the death of the insured. This young officer asked if I could wait on the bench just outside the office and he would attend to me soon.

About 30 minutes later there was an old Oldsmobile that pulled up in front of the office and a very large man in his 50ies exited the vehicle and walked past me saying “Buenos Dias” and entered the police office. By the time he entered the office the Oldsmobile was still sputtering and clanking and smoke was pouring out. Another ten minutes passed and the young officer asked for me to come in.

Sitting behind the old desk was the older man who asked for me to sit down. He looked me directly in my eyes and wanted to know why I was asking questions about the death of Mrs. Lara. I explained the process of life insurance investigations and the need to determine if the claim was good and payable. This guy then told me that he was the Chief of the Municipal Police in Jalpan and he personally investigated the murder of the insured but the way he said it made me feel uncomfortable. It was that look that he knew something I didn’t and wanted me to feel uncomfortable. He stood up and I could see by his waist that he enjoyed way to many Gorditas. He walked over to me and sat on the desk in front of me without saying a word. I reached into my backpack and handed him a business card and took out my file. I opened the file to explain that this life insurance policy was in the amount of $250,000.00 and that the husband of the insured was the beneficiary. I usually don’t revel the amount of the policy or who the beneficiary is but I could tell I needed his confidence and this information might get him to open up a little. The chief said he became an officer when he was 19 years old and learned police work from his superiors and he never worked on a murder case until this happened two months ago. I could tell he was not formally educated because of the way he talked and presented himself.

I have dealt with many officials in small Mexican towns and the first thing you must do is to acknowledge their position and be as polite as possible and don’t act like a big city American with a mission.

I could tell the Chief was confused by my questions but his intimidating demeanor had me confused as well. I continued to explain all the information I knew about this matter so that maybe he would open up and at the very least show me the investigative report. He acted like he didn’t believe me and that I were lying to him.

He sat back down behind the desk and squinted at my business card. He then put the telephone in front of me and asked me to call my superior. I told the chief that my superior did not speak Spanish but that didn’t matter to him. He then raised his voice and said, “call him”. I took the receiver in my hand and called my boss. My supervisor answered the phone and I told him what was going on and then handed the phone to the chief. The chief put the phone to his ear and said “Hola”. I knew this was gong to be good. The chief started speaking in Spanish asking my boss why I was there and to identify me. After the chief listened for about 10 seconds he handed the phone back to me and I told my boss that I would call him back later that afternoon.

Because my wife is Mexican I told the chief that she could possibly help with his concerns and questions. He told me to call. I then called my wife and before she answered I handed the phone to him. My wife is probably the nicest person you would ever meet in your life and I knew she would handle this well. The chief introduced himself to my wife and asked her who I was and why I was in his little part of the world. Patty must have talked for about three minutes before the chief said anything then I saw a smile on his face for the first time. They started talking about where she was born in Chihuahua and that he had family there and how good the cheese is and on and on. After this ten-minute phone call the chief hung up the phone and pulled out the investigative report that he had in the drawer of his desk. I guess the talk with my wife put him at ease but I could still tell he was cautious.

The chief told me that he knew Blanca, the insured, since she was born and was friends with the family and that he took this murder personally and would do anything to find the person that killed her. He told me this with anger in his voice. He said Blanca was a very special person and when she was working in the United States she would send most of the money she made back home to support her mother, father and siblings.

He first showed me the hand drawn diagram of where Mrs. Lara was found and how far from the house of her sister it was. The chief, who now introduced himself as Bernardo Diaz after a hearty handshake, said that the night before Mrs. Lara was found she was at her mothers home and at about 10:00 p.m. she left the house and walked to her sisters home which was about a half mile away. Between the homes there is nothing but trees and scrub and no one lives anywhere close by. A young boy walking to school the next morning found the body and contacted police.

Diaz went to the scene and viewed the body and said the insured died with a bullet wound to the back of her head between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 a.m. There were no signs of robbery in that she still had money in her pocket and her jewelry had not been removed.

Chief Diaz said that he was at a loss of who wanted to do this or a motive for her murder. The chief also interviewed all of the family members of Mrs. Lara and according to them she was a happily married mother of three wonderful children and enjoyed living in the United States. According to the family Mrs. Lara did not have any enemies or an extra martial affair that they knew of.

The chief would have heard some gossip because of the small ranch community and everyone knowing everyone but there was nothing.

The one thing that the chief was confused about was after the insured’s body was discovered the insured’s sister called the insured’s home in Georgia to tell the husband but talked to the baby sister who told her that Mr. Lara was out of town on a business trip and would not return for a few days. According to the sister Mr. Lara worked for a lumber company that kept him on weeklong trips in remote areas. Mr. Lara was not informed about his wife’s death until he returned three days later and he missed the funeral and burial.

I reviewed the entire investigation report and Diaz made a copy for me. He also ordered the younger policeman to obtain a certified copy of the death certificate for me.

It was about 4:00 p.m. and I told Diaz that I had to drive back to the city of Queretaro and I would call him to discuss this further. Diaz asked if I could stay for a few days so that he could make some calls and maybe get some answers to some of the questions that both of us had. I told him I would be happy to stay but I had all of my bags in my hotel room in Queretaro and needed a change of clothes. He had his officer drive all the way to my hotel and get my bags. Now I knew the chief had a lot of questions he needed answered.

I stayed at a very nice old hotel in town that night and had dinner at the Diaz family home. Mrs. Diaz made me feel at home and an honored guest. After dinner the chief said he made some calls to other investigative agencies in the capitol to help him out and they should respond in the morning. The Chief and I retired to the front porch of his modest home and he poured me some Tequila. As we sat there I noticed thousands of bright stars and the smell of the pines trees made me feel like I was in mountains outside of Los Angeles where I spent summers when I was a kid.

The Chief told me stories about some of the cases he worked on. I also told him of my travels to all of the countries I have been to. We must have sat there for three hours laughing and joking and he kept pouring the homemade Tequila a friend of his made.

I showed up at the chief’s office at 7:00 a.m. and still felt the effects of the alcohol the night before. The Chief was on the phone. He told me that two days before the murder a bus ticket was purchased at the Reynosa Tamaulipas bus station by a person by the name of Francisco Lara to the city of Queretaro. At 10:00 a.m. the morning after the murder Francisco Lara purchased another bus ticket at the Queretaro bus station to Reynosa. This was very interesting information but with just this we could not determine if this was the husband of the insured. We had to confirm this new information.

I asked the chief to use his phone and I called the insured’s work number in Atlanta and talked with the human resources department. I didn’t expect them to give me any personal information but they did tell me that Mr. Lara took a weeks vacation during the time his wife was murdered. Now we had something. Both Diaz and I were confident we had our suspect. I took the chief as a back woods hillbilly who couldn’t put two intelligent sentences together but I was way wrong. This guy was good, very good.

We talked about our options and what to do next. I told Diaz that I needed to speak with my supervisor and explain what I wanted to do next. I told my manager what had transpired and that I wanted to interview and take a handwritten statement from Francisco Lara in person. I got the ok from my company and the insurance company. I told Diaz what I was going to do so after three days in this beautiful mountain village I took off for Queretaro to fly to Atlanta. When I got to the Mexican Federal Highway I got pulled over by the Mexican Federal Police. I was taken into custody and was told that there was a report that the rented vehicle I was driving was stolen. I was placed in cell. Two hours later I was given the opportunity to make a phone call so I called Chief Diaz and told him where I was and what happened. Apparently the rental company made the report of the stolen vehicle because I only rented the car for one day and made the mistake of not calling them to extend my rental. Diaz said he would make a few calls. In one hour an official from the state government building dressed in a suit came to my cell and apologized for what had happened and I was released. I took the car back to the rental agency and they also apologized and didn’t charge me a dime for the four days I had the car. Chief Diaz, the uneducated hillbilly redneck, had my back!

I flew to Georgia and called Francisco and told him I was very sorry for the death of his wife and that I needed to speak with him for a few minutes. We scheduled the appointment for the following day in the evening. When I arrived at his home his children were in the front room playing and watching television. He invited me to sit down on the sofa but I told him it would be better at the dining room table. It was to distracting with the kids there and when you meet someone for an interview you want to take control of where the interview will take place. I didn't tell Francisco that I spoke Spanish and his English was good enough to continue with the interview.

I chatted with Francisco about the death of his wife and how terrible it must have been for him and the children. I didn’t see much emotion from him but every person is different so you just make a mental note and move on.

I learned that Francisco was from a small town in the state of San Luis Potosi Mexico and that in 1994, when he was 17 years old; he crossed the river close to Ciudad Juarez and found himself in El Paso Texas. He talked with other illegals in El Paso that told him many were going to Atlanta because there was a lot of construction work due to the summer Olympics being held in a few years. He took a bus to Atlanta and worked for the company that was contracted by the city to build different Olympic buildings. During this time he was able to obtain legal status and eventually became an American citizen.

Francisco said he has never been arrested or convicted for any crimes but had received a few speeding tickets.

He said he met his wife Blanca in an Atlanta department store where she worked in the maintenance department. They hit it off and were married within a few months after meeting. Blanca was a legal immigrant when he met her and she lived with a cousin in an apartment close to where he lived. He said she was the loveliest person he had ever met in his life and cared for her dearly. He told me he didn’t know what he would do without her and that he has not been sleeping very well since she passed.

I started to write the statement and asked him questions about his work, which was for a lumber company based in Atlanta. He worked as a laborer and sometimes he said they had contracted jobs that would take him to other southern states for long periods of time. On the statement I included his work history and asked questions about Blanca’s health.

I then asked Francisco about the week of his wife’s death. Francisco told me that a few days after Blanca flew to Queretaro to attend the funeral for her aunt he left the children with a full time baby sitter because he went to work in Alabama for a week which was a job for his company. He said he remained in Alabama working for the entire week and when he returned he received a message from Blanca’s sister that Blanca had passed away. He said that the funeral and burial had already taken place so there was no reason for him to incur the cost for traveling there.

I asked Francisco how Blanca died and he said she was shot in the back of the head. He told me that the area where she was from is very dangerous and if someone knew that she was living in the United States and was visiting that she would be a target for robbery. He then went on to tell me that all of Blanca’s belongings were stolen including her purse, money and the jewelry she was wearing. He also said there was information that she was sexually violated prior to the murder. This is when he started to break down but I never saw a tear.

I had him sign the statement and got out of there. I could tell this guy was a cold blooded killer and he thought he had just gotten away with this crime which really made so upset that my stomach started to tighten up and I felt like I was going to vomit.

I went back to my hotel room and translated the statement into Spanish.

The next thing I had to do was to obtain written documentation from Francisco’s employer about his work schedule and the vacation he had taken. I spoke in person with the human resources manager at his company and explained why this information was necessary but I was told the company could not release this information. I already knew about the vacation time he took during his wife’s murder so I was confident I had enough to submit to the insurance company to question the involvement of the beneficiary to the murder of the insured. I asked the insurance company if I could send Chief Diaz a copy of the handwritten statement and they gave me permission to do so.

I wanted more. What I had was good but there had to be some other information I could get so I went to the county court house in Atlanta and researched the criminal index. Apparently Mr. Lara had been arrested on three different occasions, once for drunk in public and twice for domestic violence. I pulled the files and sure enough Francisco liked to beat his wife and on one occasion he beat her so badly she ended up in the hospital with two broken ribs and a broken nose. Now I really wanted this guy to pay for what he did. I guess he thought he could lie all he wanted to me and that I would never check on his prior history. He was wrong.

Chief Diaz called me while I was sill in Atlanta and I could tell from his voice that he was elated with what I had found. He said he would contact the officials in the state capitol with the ongoing investigation.

That evening I went back to Francisco’s home and parked a few doors down and set up surveillance with full view of the front door to the Lara residence. About an hour into it Francisco left the residence in his vehicle and drove about five miles to an apartment complex in a bad part of town so I stayed with him. I saw the apartment he went into but I didn’t see the person who answered the door.

A few hours later the door to the apartment opened and out came Francisco being followed by a young Latin woman and they walked hand in hand to his car. He hugged and kissed this woman then got into his car and drove home. Because I didn’t have my surveillance equipment with me I could not take any photographs but made good notes. It turns out this woman worked at the same department store where Blanca worked and was also in Maintenance.

My entire report was submitted to the insurance company I worked for and it was their decision if they wanted to contact the authorities for prosecution. It turned out my client did contact the FBI in Atlanta and about six months later Francisco was arrested and turned over to the Mexican authorities in Queretaro where Mr. Lara was convicted for murdering his wife. He is now sitting in a Mexican prison for the rest of his life.

I later learned that Lara met a friend of his at the bus station in Queretaro who was from his hometown in San Luis Potosi and drove him to Jalpan the night of his wife’s murder and brought him back. This “friend” was also charged and convicted.

This was a great case for me and I learned a lot along the way. One thing I really learned is to never give up and get all the information you can get during an investigation. It’s not very often you find the murderer doing what I do so when it happens you know you did a great job.

Chief Diaz and I keep in contact and he has invited me to his home anytime I am in the area. I hope one day I will see him again and sip a little fine tequila.

Till death do us part?

[Edited on 3-7-2014 by lizard lips]

Pompano - 2-16-2014 at 02:02 PM

Congratulations on a well-written murder mystery, lizard lips. I enjoyed it a lot...not only because I love a good mystery, but it made me feel like I was there. I've been to some of those rural mainland Mexican villages and felt the same atmosphere.

I hope you can reunite with that police chief and have a couple of tequila remembrances.

Please write more from your experiences, which are quite a few, I suspect. It reminds of what Thoreau said, "How vain it is to sit down and write, when you have not stood up to live."

p.s. to add: just a suggestion...separating your paragraphs with a double space would make it easier on the eyes.

[Edited on 2-17-2014 by Pompano]

TMW - 2-16-2014 at 02:21 PM

Wow that was great. I was glued from start to finish, thanks.

alacran - 2-16-2014 at 04:39 PM

Indeed a good story and a good ending.

DianaT - 2-16-2014 at 04:55 PM

Good read and well written. Thank you. It is very sad for the woman and the children she left behind, but it good to hear that the scumbag is rotting in a Mexican prison.

Udo - 2-17-2014 at 09:46 AM

Superbly written, amigo!

Bob H - 2-17-2014 at 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DianaT
Good read and well written. Thank you. It is very sad for the woman and the children she left behind, but it good to hear that the scumbag is rotting in a Mexican prison.

I 2nd that!!

bbbait - 2-17-2014 at 10:39 AM

Outstanding read! Thank you for posting!

bacquito - 2-17-2014 at 12:31 PM

Yes, truly interesting. You should look into publishing your work. I am not a great reader but your story really kept me interested

Kgryfon - 2-17-2014 at 03:48 PM

Good story and well written!

lizard lips - 2-18-2014 at 06:42 PM

Thank you for the kind words. I am in the process of writing a book about my adventures and have several chapters written but still a long way to go. As soon as I finish my next one I'll post it. I won't post them all because you will not buy it when it comes out…...

Neal Johns - 2-18-2014 at 07:43 PM

I'll buy it! I'll buy it!
Neal

Marc - 2-25-2014 at 08:46 PM

Great! I usually don't read the longer posts. Glad I stuck with this one.

oladulce - 2-26-2014 at 07:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by lizard lips
Thank you for the kind words. I am in the process of writing a book about my adventures and have several chapters written but still a long way to go. As soon as I finish my next one I'll post it. I won't post them all because you will not buy it when it comes out…...

That was GREAT! Even if you give us a few more tidbits I bet most of us would buy your book too LL.

BajaGeoff - 2-26-2014 at 11:29 AM

Good read LL!

durrelllrobert - 2-26-2014 at 11:45 AM

Quote:

I guess that with all your years of investigations the book will consist of several volumes. PS: try to stay out of those jails.

Barry A. - 2-26-2014 at 12:24 PM

So well written, LL. Thanks for posting---------I could not help but read it word for word with no breaks!

Definitely should write all this stuff into a book, I am thinking.

Barry

DENNIS - 2-26-2014 at 12:58 PM

Baja Bernie would be proud. :tumble:

[that's a compliment, Big D]

BajaGeoff - 2-26-2014 at 01:02 PM

After some of the stories you have shared LL, I am still convinced your life could be made into a movie!

wilderone - 3-7-2014 at 09:04 AM

I so enjoy your writings. There should be a TV series for these cases of yours.

N2Baja - 3-7-2014 at 01:09 PM

Great story! I hope you share more.

Baja_Itzcoatl - 3-7-2014 at 01:53 PM

WOW !! I rescheduled a lunch meeting to finish this great story! I’m buying your book..

Cliffy - 3-7-2014 at 04:48 PM

Is it on the NY Times best sellers list yet? Why not?

BajaBlanca - 3-7-2014 at 08:27 PM

riveting from start to finish. what a gift you have! Please add my name to the first ones in line to buy the book.