Arrest made in Amancio Corrales homicide case

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE - Law enforcement officials have arrested a suspect in connection with the 2005 death of a female impersonator.

Ruben Solorio received a $1 million bond in his initial court appearance Thursday for the alleged murder of Amancio Corrales, a female impersonator whose body was found in the Colorado River near Paradise Cove two years ago.

Solorio, 23, of 2202 W. 17th St., will appear in court again at 1 p.m. Tuesday. He was arrested at 5:24 p.m. Wednesday at Express Lube, 1900 S. 4th Ave., where he had worked for the past three weeks. He was booked into Yuma County jail on one count of second-degree homicide in Corrales' death, according to court records.

Corrales, a gay man who performed as a female impersonator known as Dalila, was found floating in the Colorado River, just west of Joe Henry Park, with multiple stab wounds on May 6, 2005.

A recent anonymous written tip to the Yuma County Sheriff's Office led to Solorio's arrest, according to YCSO's Maj. Leon Wilmot. Followup investigation revealed Solorio had confessed to family members soon after the murder, allegedly telling them how he had killed Corrales. Solorio fled to Mexico for three months on the night of the killing, according to court records.

Court records said "multiple witnesses provided detailed information of how the defendant murdered the victim."

Solorio has denied all allegations, according to Yuma County Justice Court records.

He was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs when the slaying occurred, court records said.

"It is not known if they knew each other. The feeling is that they did not," Wilmot said of the victim and the suspect. He also said there is no evidence to show that the homicide was a hate crime.

Solorio is currently on intensive probation, court records said.

"He's been in our facility numerous times," Wilmot said, for aggravated assault, domestic violence-related charges and once for alien smuggling.

Public court records show Solorio's 10 court appearances began in February 2002 for offenses including unlawful imprisonment, endangerment, disorderly conduct, hit and run and theft.

"I'm quite elated," said The Amancio Project organizer, Michael Baughman, of Solorio's arrest. "It's good to have this process started."

Baughman credited his coalition, dedicated to keeping Corrales' death in the public eye, the authorities and the media with helping the anonymous tip to come to light.

The Corrales family had expressed unhappiness with the progress of YCSO's investigation of the murder. They recently renewed their requests for more effort to find Amancio's killer.

Story updated at 11:08 p.m.

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Nicole Squibbs can be reached at

nsquibbs@yumasun.com or 539-6855.