Area murder tally skyrockets in 2005

The sister of one of 11 people killed this year in the city had only one response when she heard Yuma's 2005 murder tally.

"Wow."

Marlene Alvarado, the sister of the slain Luis Alvarado, said she noticed an increase in homicides in Yuma this year. "It's too many," she said.

The family and friends of many other homicide victims would echo that response. The 11 murders in the city this year is more than the total for the previous five years.

"It was a difficult and challenging year," said Yuma Police Department spokesman Clint Norred. "Every homicide is tragic, and we had a tough year."

A shocking homicide that claimed six victims in one home June 24 obviously skewed the year's statistic, but the victim total cannot be ignored. In addition to the 11 in the city, the Yuma County Sheriff's Office handled four homicides in the county and the Imperial County Sheriff's Office investigated a double murder near Bard.

"It causes me a great deal of concern," Yuma Mayor Larry Nelson said of the murders this year in the city.

Nelson said he has received more calls from the public saying that Yuma remains a safe place to live than those from people concerned about the murders. He said 2005 was simply a bad year for violent crime that he does not expect to be repeated.

"You can never say never,' but the chances of (another year like this) are slim," Nelson said.

The murder of Alvarado is uncommon this year in that the alleged perpetrator is facing charges. Many of the other cases are still open.

In September, James Moreno, 24, of 954 S. Avenue A, was charged with premeditated first-degree murder and felony first-degree murder - both Class 1 felonies - in connection with Alvarado's killing April 9. The case is in Yuma County Superior Court before Judge Rick Donato.

The biggest unsolved case is the murders at 2037 E. La Mesa St. of Adrienne Heredia, 30, Andreas Crawford, 13, Enrique Bedoya, 12, Inez Newman, 9, Danny Heredia III, 6, and Luis Rios, 35.

Yuma police have released a suspect sketch and processed a vehicle believed to be involved in the case. Norred said there was no further information to release.

"Detectives are working it," he said.

Nelson said YPD is working diligently to make arrests in the open cases. "They tell me they're going to solve them," he said.

Another incident that has garnered heavy interest was the killing of Amancio Corrales, a 23-year-old gay man who was a female impersonator. He was found dead in the Colorado River on May 6.

The Yuma County Sheriff's Office continues to follow leads in the case, according to Lt. David McBride. "We still believe somebody out there knows something, and we're more than willing to listen," he said.

YCSO Maj. Leon Wilmot said YCSO is still investigating two other murders: the death of Ernesto Zavala-Mendoza, a Mexicali man who was shot in the head Jan. 22 near the Colorado River, and the death of an unidentified person whose remains were found in a shallow grave at County 6th Street and Avenue 8E in June.

Wilmot said a forensic autopsy revealed that the victim in the shallow grave died of blunt force trauma, but little other information is known.

"We're still actively pursuing any leads and any information that is called in to us," Wilmot said.

The drowning death of Jacob Andrew Nunez, 5, at Mittry Lake was also considered a homicide. His mother, Michelle Marie Nunez-Fields, was arrested and charged with negligent homicide and two other felonies.

Also outside the city, Alfredo Lopez-Sanchez, 36, of Tijuana, and Juan Hernandez-Nunez, 45, of Fresno, Calif., were shot in the head July 18 near Bard. The families of both men said they did not know why the men were in the area.

The Imperial County Sheriff's Office is continuing to investigate but there is no further information to release, according to Lt. George Moreno.

The most recent homicide was Dec. 20 when a man was fatally stabbed at 973 S. 7th Ave. That day, YPD arrested Juan Ursolo Montenegro Martinez, 40, and booked him into jail on first-degree murder.

On Oct. 14, Mark Anthony Munoz, 34, died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head. Jo Rita Adams, who was also injured in the incident at 349 10th Ave., remains at a Phoenix hospital, according to Norred.

The youngest murder victim this year was Angel C. Lemus, a 2-year-old boy, who died of blunt force trauma March 8.

Norred said the justifiable homicide of Ramon Angel Nunez, 40, of Yuma is also included in YPD's yearly statistics. Nunez was killed by YPD officers Sept. 26 during a shootout at an apartment complex. The Yuma County Attorney's Office said the officers acted correctly during the incident.

Norred said many of the cases remained open because of the amount of work that goes into murder investigations. "With homicides, quite frankly, most of them are pretty complex. You have to process the evidence and have probable cause. There are cases where it's quick and you catch somebody red-handed, but a lot of the cases (this year) weren't that way, so it takes time," he said.

Norred said it was difficult to answer the question of whether the homicide total signified that Yuma's streets were less safe than they had been.

"There's no crystal ball. There's no predictions for what will happen," he said. "When homicides occur, you go in there and aggressively investigate and try to get the pieces of the puzzle in place."

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Jeffrey Gautreaux can be reached at jgautreaux@yumasun.com or 539-6858.