2014 Tucson homicide timeline

Witnesses and police say a man intentionally ran over three people, killing two and critically injuring the other, after a street fight early New Year’s Day on Tucson’s south side.

Later in the day, police detained a man for questioning in the case. He was taken into custody at a home in the 200 block of East Adams Street, near North Sixth Avenue.

“His involvement is unclear at this time,” Sgt. Chris Widmer, a Tucson police spokesman, said Wednesday night.

Widmer gave the following account of the homicides:

A man and woman were dropped off by a cab around 3:45 a.m. Wednesday in the 2200 block of East Sunland Vista, near East 36th Street and South Campbell Avenue. Shortly after the cab left, a white sedan pulled up and a fight broke out between the driver and the people on the street.

One of the men involved in the fight got in the car and ran over a man and two women.

“It’s unclear which party the suspect driver was originally with,” Widmer said.

A 47-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene, and a 32-year-old man was taken to a hospital where he died shortly after arriving. Police have not released their names.

The third victim, a 43-year-old woman, was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Police believe one of the women was an occupant of the white sedan.

The hit-and-run driver drove away from the scene and abandoned the car in a desert area west of Campbell Avenue and Sunland Vista. Police searched but did not find him.

Witnesses described a chaotic scene.

Jessica Valenzuela, 26, told the Star she was helping clean up after a family party in the front yard of her mother’s home on Sunland Vista.

When the man and woman were dropped off by the taxi near the house, they both appeared to be very drunk, Valenzuela said. The woman couldn’t walk and kept falling and was missing a shoe, she said.

The pair started walking east on Sunland Vista and were kissing, Valenzuela said. Somehow the woman ended up naked and she and the man lay down on the side of the road, she said.

The white car drove up and the man driving seemed like he was trying to offer help to the man and woman, Valenzuela said. She said the driver said he was going to call police and the man on the street went up to the car and hit him.

The man then got out of the car and a fight broke out between the two men, Valenzuela said.

Then, the man who was in the street got into the other man’s car and ran over the three victims several times, she said.

Valenzuela said she saw the man get out of the car and kick the woman he had been with in the taxi and hit the other man.

She said the man crashed into two other cars, a fence and a tree.

Another witness, Hector Duarte, said he had awakened to use the restroom when he saw the car’s headlights and heard a loud noise outside.

When he went outside he saw the car driving back and forth, running over two women in the road, Duarte told the Star.

He also saw a man get out and kick one of the women at least three times.

Duarte said the man was driving with “anger” and “force.”

“It wasn’t an accident,” Duarte said in Spanish, adding, “It was a crime.”

The driver crashed into Duarte’s daughter’s truck parked on the side of their house when he ran over the other man, Duarte said.

“It was so ugly to see what this man was doing,” Duarte said.

Police are asking for help identifying the cabdriver who originally dropped off the man and woman in the neighborhood, Widmer said.

Witnesses described that car as a Yellow Cab.

Yellow Cab and other local companies have been cooperating with police but have not been able to identify the cab or driver, Widmer said. The driver is considered a “valuable witness” and anyone with information about the driver or the vehicle or any other information is asked to call 911 or 88-CRIME (882-7463).

The victim of a drive-by shooting last week in a downtown Tucson neighborhood died Monday of his injuries.

At about 10 p.m. Jan. 14 Osvaldo Raul Vargas, 35, and two other men were standing in the front yard of a home in the 400 Block of West 19th Street near South Osborne Avenue, when a red or maroon SUV pulled up and someone in the vehicle fired at the home.

“We don’t know at this point if it was random,” said Sgt. Pete Dugan, a spokesman for the Tucson Police Department. “There was no return fire. The vehicle pulled up, multiple shots were fired in the direction where the three were standing at the house, the one individual was struck.”

The men standing next to Vargas were unharmed.

Vargas was taken to a local hospital and died Monday from injuries sustained in the shooting.

Homicide Survivors will be with the Vargas family at their home tonight for a 7 p.m. press conference, said Cyra Trujillo, a victim advocate for the organization.

Vargas left behind a wife and five children ranging in age from 6 to 14, said Trujillo.

Vargas was a delivery driver for a mattress firm, and arrived home from work at about 9 p.m. the evening he was shot, Trujillo said.

Vargas went outdoors because a neighbor called him, and while he was talking to the neighbor gunfire erupted and Vargas was struck, Trujillo said.

An expense fund for the Vargas family has been set up and checks can be written to Homicide Survivors with a note in the memo section saying the donation is for Osvaldo Raul Vargas, Trujillo said.

For more information, call Trujillo at 349-0362. 

Donations can be mailed to Homicide Survivors, 32 N. Stone Ave., Suite 1408, Tucson, Az.  85701.   

Anyone with information about the shooting should call 911 or 88-CRIME.

Charges against a Marana man suspected of killing his father during a fight have been dismissed. 

Jared Patrick, 20, was arrested last Wednesday on suspicion of second-degree murder for the death of his father, 47-year-old Justin Patrick.

The Pima County Attorney's Office dropped the charge "pending further results from the autopsy conducted by the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner," according to the Pima County Sheriff's Department. 

Deputies responding to a domestic violence call at the family's home in the 16500 block of West Moore Road, west of Interstate 10, found Justin Patrick on the ground and not breathing. 

He was taken to Northwest Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Jared Patrick told detectives he was high on methamphetamines and he used a martial-arts chokehold on his father during a fight, according to court documents.

Dawn Patrick, Jared's mother, told deputies he was released from prison on July 1 after a burglary conviction, court documents state. She also said Jared Patrick has bipolar disorder and might not have been taking his medication. 

The mother and girlfriend of a man killed in a south-side shooting Saturday said they have forgiven his killer and ask that anyone with information come forward.

Michael James, 39, was shot shortly before 1 a.m. outside a Veterans of Foreign Wars club at 2308 S. Park Ave., near East 33rd Street, Tucson police said. No further information was released.

“A detective told me that Michael was standing outside smoking a cigarette and he was shot once,” said his mother, Pamela Scott, 55, who lives in Sacramento, Calif. “I don’t understand it. ... I am very sad and hurt. I only had two sons, and both of them died after being shot.”

She said her youngest son died at age 26 when he was shot coming out of a store in Sacramento.

Now Scott said she is making funeral arrangements to bury her oldest son in Los Angeles, where their relatives live.

Scott, a bus driver, said she moved to Sacramento when her sons were young because she wanted to take them away from gangs in Compton.

Violence still claimed their lives, she said. “Michael was very close to his brother, and he took his death very hard,” said Scott, adding that he met his girlfriend, LaQuenna Lewis, 31, in 2009 and both moved to Tucson in 2012 where she has family.

“Michael was an outgoing, happy, sociable person. He should have been a comedian,” said Scott, adding that her son worked at the Target Distribution Center.

He and Lewis have two sons, and Lewis is expecting their third boy soon.

“All I know is that he went to the VFW with a friend for a beer,” Lewis said. “He was my backbone, and he is the one who taught me to love unconditionally and forgive. He was a beautiful person with a beautiful spirit.”

“The person who did this needs to do the right thing and come forward. They need to find peace within their soul. I forgive this person. I have to forgive them in order to go on with my life. That is what the Bible tells you,” Scott said.

“We love you and we forgive you. I would like to tell the person this to their face. This will be closure for me,” said Lewis.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or 88-CRIME.

A Tucson man driving drunk hit and killed his wife early Saturday morning, a police official said.

Todd Michael Rounds, 48, was booked into the Pima County jail and faces one count of second-degree murder in the death of his wife, 47-year old Donna Rounds.

Officers responded to a call about a car crash just before 1:30 a.m. in the 9700 block of East Sascha Street near the intersection of East Golf Links and South Harrison roads.

Todd Rounds called 911 from his home in the neighborhood to report he had been in a collision, Sgt. Chris Widmer, a spokesman for the Tucson Police Department, said in a news release.

Personnel from the Tucson Fire Department and TPD responded and found a 2000 Ford F150 Pickup truck at the home, but did not find Rounds, Widmer said.

Officers searched the neighborhood and found Rounds on a nearby street walking back toward the scene of the crash where Donna Rounds was killed.

Todd Rounds was driving his truck north on Krissy Avenue when he struck and killed his wife who was on foot just south of Vendela Street, Widmer said. Rounds drove home and called 911.

“Detectives determined that Mr. Rounds was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the collision,” Widmer said.

South Tucson Police have identified a man fatally shot in South Tucson last week as 32-year-old Clayton Eugene Francisco.

The shooting happened shortly after 11 p.m. Feb. 11 near South Sixth Avenue and East 40th Street, Lt. Jeff Inorio, a South Tucson Police Department spokesman said in a news release.

Officers responding to a report of gunshots found the man lying in the road with a gunshot wound to the head, and he was pronounced dead at the scene, the release said.

Witnesses said an altercation happened between two men before the shooting.

A reward of up to $1,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the shooter.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or 88-CRIME.

Siblings of the 3-year-old boy whose skeletal remains were found Tuesday told investigators their mother starved their brother to death, court records reveal.

In an interim complaint filed by police with Pima County Justice Court, the children of Raquel Marcella Barreras said their mother starved Roman Barreras and put his body in a toy chest in the backyard.

Barreras, 39, was booked into the Pima County jail Tuesday and faces one count each of first-degree murder and child abuse. Her husband, Martin Raymond Barreras, 45, also was jailed and faces one count of child abuse.

The complaint states Martin Barreras knew his wife was abusing the boy and confronted her “but did nothing further to stop her from starving (the) child.”

The couple has four other children, a 12-year-old son and three daughters ages 4, 7 and 19.

Earlier this year, the couple were evicted from a triplex unit in the 700 block of West Idaho Street near South 12th Avenue and West Nebraska Street on the south side.

The landlord, who was cleaning up the property and throwing out belongings the family left behind, found Roman’s skeletal remains.

Roman was apparently forced to live in a room behind the unit, Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villaseñor said at a news conference Wednesday.

A neighbor said the family had lived in the triplex since April 2013.

Police officers had been called to the house before, primarily because the older children had failed to attend school, but officers said the children appeared to be in good health and they did not see any signs that the children were being abused, Villaseñor said.

Raquel Barreras was found guilty in December 2008 of shoplifting and of contributing to the delinquency of a dependent minor when her children failed to attend school, court records show. In January 2011, she was found guilty of theft.

In 2009, she pleaded guilty to stealing a prescription pad from a south-side medical clinic and attempting to fill a prescription for oxycodone. A presentencing report stated Barreras became addicted to the narcotic in 2003 or 2004 when she was given oxycodone for a misdiagnosis of fibromyalgia. The doctor who prescribed the drug eventually had his medical license revoked.

Barreras twice violated her probation and failed to complete a residential drug treatment program and was sentenced to serve six months in jail, court records show.

No serious previous charges were found in court records for Martin Barreras.

In 2010, while on probation, Raquel Barreras was in a drug treatment program. Roman was born in July of that year.

Child Protective Services took the infant while Barreras was still in the hospital because she tested positive for methadone, court records show. At that time, all five of her children were in state protective custody. Eventually, the state agency returned the children to the custody of Martin Barreras.

Child welfare caseworkers last had contact with the family in August 2012, said a spokeswoman for the state’s Division of Child Safety and Family Services, formerly Child Protective Services. She would not provide details.

Court records show the couple lost their home to foreclosure in 2006. Since moving out of the rental unit on West Idaho Street, they have been living in a south-side home near the Tucson Rodeo Grounds.

More than 20 members of the couple’s extended family attended a news conference Thursday morning. They agreed Raquel and Martin Barreras began distancing themselves from relatives several years ago, and during chance meetings with family members they seemed evasive and secretive, especially when asked about Roman.

“If we saw them, they would just walk away from us. They were very secretive,” said Frank Aguilar, Martin’s brother-in-law.

Much of the time the extended family didn’t even know where Raquel, Martin and their children were living, Aguilar said.

The last time any of the family members remembered seeing Roman was in 2012. Several said they called CPS out of concern for the children.

Neighbors at the Idaho Street address said the family members kept to themselves, sometimes asking to use an outdoor water hose or to borrow milk. They said the parents often allowed the children to play outside in the early-morning hours.

Woman found slain

in Foothills home ID’d

A woman who was shot multiple times and found dead last week in a Catalina Foothills home was identified as Dorease L. Clarke.

Clarke, 55, was the live-in girlfriend of Myron Elliot Fletcher, 56, who was booked into the Pima County jail on suspicion of first-degree murder.

Fletcher, who runs an auto salvage yard, is being held on a $100,000 bond.

Pima County sheriff’s deputies found Clarke at a home in the 3500 block of East Guthrie Mountain Place, near East Skyline and Sunrise drives, on March 18 during a welfare check, said Deputy Courtney Rodriguez, a sheriff’s spokeswoman.

It took a week to identify Clarke because of the condition of her body.

Pima Animal Care officers, who responded to the house in reference to possible abandoned animals, notified deputies twice about a stench coming from the home. Deputies did not notice anything suspicious March 16 but did smell an odor and saw flies on a window at the home March 18, according to a search warrant.

The body was found in the master bedroom. Also found were a .22-caliber rifle, a holster for a handgun and an empty box of 9 mm ammunition. No handgun was found, according to court records.

The last time Clarke was seen in public was March 4, when surveillance video showed her walking into a Foothills CVS drugstore with Fletcher, according to court documents.

Four days later, on March 8, Fletcher admitted himself to Palo Verde Hospital, an in-patient mental-health center. Investigators tracked him to the hospital March 18, and he “told deputies that he did not want anyone in his house,” state court records.

“When he was told about the flies and the smell, he told deputies that the power sometimes goes out because of the electrical breakers and also that he believes that he has rotting meat in the freezer,” according to records.

Carmen Duarte

Suspect booked
in midtown killing

A man is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder in a gang-related slaying at a midtown apartment complex last week.

Tenell Mure, 32, was booked into the Pima County jail Tuesday in connection with the fatal shooting of Marshal Davis, 34, on March 21 at the complex at 3666 E. Second St., said Sgt. Chris Widmer, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.

Mure could be charged with one count each of first-degree murder, drive-by shooting and tampering with evidence, Widmer said.

Shortly after 11 p.m. March 21, police responded to a report of gunshots at the complex and found Davis in the parking lot with gunshot wounds, said Widmer. Davis was pronounced dead at the scene.

Detectives are searching for others in connection with the slaying and ask that anyone with information call 911 or 88-CRIME.

Carmen Duarte

A man is facing first-degree murder in a gang-related slaying at a midtown apartment complex last week.

Tenell Mure, 32, was booked into the Pima County jail Tuesday in connection with the fatal shooting of Marshal Davis, 34, on March 21 at the complex at 3666 E. Second St., said Sgt. Chris Widmer, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.

Mure faces suspicion of one count each of first-degree murder, drive-by shooting and tampering with evidence, Widmer said.

Shortly after 11 p.m. March 21, police responed to a shots fired call at the complex and found Davis in the parking lot with gunshot wounds, said Widmer. Davis was pronounced dead at the scene.

Detectives are searching for others in connection with the slaying and ask that anyone with information call 911 or 88-CRIME.

Homicide victim ID’d, roommate arrested

A woman found dead Sunday in a north-side apartment was identified as Kathleen Deluche, and her roommate was arrested, police said.

Deluche’s roommate, Antonio Moore, 26, was arrested Monday and booked into the Pima County jail on suspicion of first-degree murder, said Sgt. Pete Dugan, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.

On Sunday at 10:20 a.m., a neighbor called 911 after finding Deluche inside her apartment unconscious with obvious signs of trauma, Dugan said.

Deluche lived in the 3000 block of North Geronimo Avenue, near North First Avenue and East Fort Lowell Road.

Deluche, who was pronounced dead at the scene, had multiple stab wounds, Dugan said. He said her 3-year-old child was found inside the home, and the child was unharmed.

Homicide detectives developed information that led to Moore, and Moore was located with the help of federal marshals Monday afternoon and taken into custody, said Dugan.

Carmen Duarte

BP agent shoots 2
on reservation

A U.S. Border Patrol agent fired at a truck Monday, striking two Tohono O’odham tribal members after the driver of the truck tried to run the agent over, authorities said.

The shooting happened about 12:15 a.m. on a road near San Miguel, which is south of Sells near the international border on the Tohono O’odham Nation. Sells, the capital of the nation, is 60 miles southwest of Tucson.

Officers of the Tohono O’odham Police Department responded to the shooting. There were three tribal members in the truck, according to a tribal news release.

The Border Patrol agent fired his gun “at the driver of a truck attempting to run the agent over,” according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection statement.

The truck struck the driver’s side of the agent’s vehicle, causing injury to the agent, according to the statement.

Officials did not release the agent’s name, injuries or if he needed medical attention. The two people in the truck who were struck by gunfire were transported to a hospital, but their injuries or conditions were not released.

No names of the suspects were released, or if they were arrested and charged in the case.

Carmen Duarte

Couple finds stolen bust of JFK in wash

A bronze bust of former President John F. Kennedy that was stolen in December from a downtown Tucson park was found Saturday by a couple in a west-side wash.

The couple found the bust in an overturned pot, and turned it in Saturday to a recycling center where an employee recognized the bust and called police. The couple did not want money for the bust, according to a city news release.

Peg Weber, an administrator with Tucson Parks and Recreation, identified the bust Monday.

The bronze piece had damage to the nose, and scratches and dings in various places. It also had damage to its base, said Weber. She estimated total damage at about $200.

Weber said the bronze bust is in the Tucson Police Department’s evidence room, and she expects it will be released to her this week.

She said she plans on contacting local artist Hardy Grant, who did the original piece, about repairs. Weber said she also will talk to Tucson Pima Arts Council about securing the bust to its granite pedestal at El Presidio Park.

The bust was originally unveiled Nov. 22, 1964, one year after Kennedy’s assassination. It cost $1,000 and was paid for by the county Democratic Party.

“We are pleased that the sculpture has been found,” said Pima County Democratic Party Chairman Don Jorgensen, in a news release. “We will be happy to work with the city to restore the memorial.”

Carmen Duarte

An armed robbery suspect killed in a home invasion early Saturday morning has been identified and deputies have arrested two other suspects. 

Shots were exchanged between Luis Antonio Lupercio, 26, and a neighbor who went to investigate sounds of distress coming from a home in the 14400 block of West Kestrel Road, near Arizona 86 and South Sierrita Mountain Road, Deputy Tracy Suitt, a Pima County Sheriff's department spokesman said in a news release. 

Lupercio was fatally wounded. 

Two other suspects, Robert M. Pryor, 17, and Osvaldo Carrillo-Valenzuela, 20, were arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder. They were booked into the Pima County jail. 

Under state law if a person is killed during the commission of a felony, those involved can be charged in connection with their death, Suitt said. 

Deputies are searching for other suspects. 

A man found dead in a midtown apartment has been identified as 48-year-old Victor Ruiz. 

Ruiz was found dead Monday in his apartment at the Summit Ridge Apartments, 1252 S. Craycroft Road, by a manager who immediately called 911, Sgt. Chris Widmer, a Tucson police spokesman said in a news release. 

The man had "obvious signs of trauma," the release said. 

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or 88-CRIME (882-7463). 

A 21-year-old man was killed in a shooting Wednesday night on Tucson's south side, police said.

Officers found Martin Jesus Echeverria-Garcia wounded with gunshots about 11:20 p.m. in the 5200 block of South Placita Brisa Grande, near East Irvington Road and South Campbell Avenue, Sgt. Pete Dugan said in a news release. He died at the hospital.

A witness told police Echeverria-Garcia was with another man just before the shooting.

Police are looking for a gold four-door sedan — possibly a Toyota Camry — that was seen leaving the area, Dugan said. Police believe the shooting might have occurred in a different location than where Echeverria-Garcia was found.

Anyone with information can call 911 or 88-CRIME.

A man fatally shot in a Food City parking lot on the city's south side Saturday night has been identified as Tomas E. Tovar.

Tovar, 36, was shot shortly before 10 p.m. outside the supermarket at 2000 E. Irvington Road, near South Campbell Avenue, said Sgt. Pete Dugan, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.

Homicide detectives ask that anyone with information call 911 or 88-CRIME.

Police responded to a shots fired call and found Tovar with "obvious signs of gunshot trauma." Officers administered first aid until Tucson Fire Department paramedics arived, Dugan said.

Tovar was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Many people were in the parking lot when the shooting occurred, and detectives are searching for a grey or silver Dodge Magnum that was seen leaving the area shortly after the shooting, said Dugan.

A man was arrested Friday in connection with a midtown slaying and faces a second-degree-murder charge.

Sonny Jean, 29, was booked into the Pima County jail on suspicion of murder, said Tucson police Sgt. Pete Dugan. He gave this account:

Shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday, police went to the 1200 block of East Lee Street after a report of a shooting.

Officers found two men who had been shot. Victor Garcia, 28, was dead and a 24-year-old man was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Detectives said Jean, Garcia and the injured man knew one another, and were inside a residence . A fight broke out between Jean and one of the victims, and the fight continued outside . Jean fired and both victims were struck multiple times.

Detectives ask that anyone with information call 911 or 88-CRIME.

A man was fatally stabbed Friday morning south of the city, and after a short search sheriff's deputies made an arrest in the case.

Shortly before 11 a.m., deputies responded to a stabbing in the 8500 block of South Craycroft Road, said Chief Deputy Chris Nanos of the Pima County Sheriff's Department, in a news release.

When deputies arrived, they found Grant Lee Wright, 38, was receiving life-saving measures from friends, Nanos said.

Wright was pronounced dead at the scene, said Nanos.

Deputies began searching for a suspect and detained Charles Foster, 37, who was found in the area, Nanos said.

Investigators said Wright and Foster were involved in a fight over property.

Foster was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, and booked into the Pima County jail, said Nanos.

A 31-year-old south-side man was shot and killed early Saturday morning, and a suspect was arrested later in the day, police said.

Tucson homicide detectives have determined the shooter drove to a home in the 300 block of West 44th Street southwest of Interstate 10 and 19, went to the front door and spoke to the victim at about 12:45 a.m., Sgt. Chris Widmer, a spokesman for the Tucson Police Department, said in a news release.

“At one point, the suspect produced a handgun and the victim immediately shut the door. The suspect fired through the door striking the victim. The suspect then fled in a vehicle,” Widmer said.

The victim was identified as Ramon Garcia. Two other adults in the home were unharmed.

Anyone with additional information should call 911 or 88-CRIME.

Tucson police have released the names of a man and a woman found dead in a midtown mobile home Wednesday morning.

Faustino Solis Garcia, 23, was found dead from gunshot wounds at about 7:15 a.m. by a person walking in the area, said Officer Brandon Tatum, a Tucson Police Department spokesman. Garcia was lying in the doorway of a mobile home at a trailer park in the 4500 block of East Fairmount Street southwest of the East Pima Street and North Swan Road intersection.

When officers arrived they also found a woman, Kassandra Medina, 20, shot to death in the home, Tatum said.

Their infant daughter was found in the home unharmed.

The victim of a May shooting died Friday and additional charges are pending against the man accused of gunning him down.

Raul Castro Jr., 41, died Friday as a result of injuries he suffered in the May 16 shooting, Sgt. Pete Dugan, spokesman for the Tucson Police Department, said in a news release.

Officers found Castro Jr. just before 12:30 a.m. in the parking lot of the Famous Sam’s restaurant and bar, 2320 N. Silverbell Road near West Grant Road.

The suspect in the shooting, 51-year old Mark Walck, had fled the bar, but detectives tracked him down hours later and booked him into the Pima County jail for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, Dugan said.

Anyone with information about the shooting should call 911 or 88-CRIME.

A man believed to have been shot in a drive-by shooting Sunday was found dead in a car parked behind an industrial warehouse Tuesday.

The man was identified as Jesus Alcarez-Ruiz, 35, said Sgt. Pete Dugan, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.

Alcarez-Ruiz was found in the passenger seat of a white vehicle with bullet holes that was found parked in a lot of an industrial warehouse in the 6200 block of South Sears Boulevard, said Dugan.

The industrial area is north of East Valencia Road and east of South Campbell Avenue.

On Tuesday, workers who were at the industrial warehouse called 911 shortly after 1 p.m. to report the car with a body inside it, Dugan said.

Detectives located and spoke to the driver of the vehicle who was also shot, but his wounds were not life-threatening, said Dugan.

No details were released about the driver, where he was located, or what he told investigators.

Dugan said the vehicle Alcarez-Ruiz was found in is the same vehicle that was reported being shot at by occupants in another passenger vehicle on Sunday.

Shortly before noon Sunday, police responded to a 911 call reporting a possible drive-by shooting near South Tucson Boulevard and East Valencia Road, Dugan said.

The caller reported that multiple shots were fired at a white vehicle. When police arrived in the area, they did not find a scene, Dugan said. Officers patrolled the area through the afternoon and evening and did not find any vehicles or evidence of a drive-by shooting, said Dugan.

A suspect in a Tucson homicide was shot to death by deputies in Nevada after he killed two women near Reno, law enforcement officials said.

Anthony Gustave Nelson, 40, was killed June 13 in a shootout with  officers in Nevada, a Washoe County Sheriff’s Office news release stated.

Tucson detectives are investigating Nelson’s connection to the badly decomposed body of 32-year-old Quincy G. Gangwer, discovered Monday afternoon at a home in the 3000 block of East 30th Street near South Country Club Road.

During their investigation into the deaths of two Reno-area women, Washoe County detectives found at the scene a white Nissan Frontier pickup truck and personal property belonging to Gangwer, Sgt. Pete Dugan, spokesman for the Tucson Police Department, said in a news release.

On June 16, Washoe County sheriff’s investigators contacted the TPD and requested they conduct a welfare check on Gangwer.

Upon arriving at Gangwer’s home, they “could detect a foul odor and forced entry into the home” and found his body, Dugan said. “Detectives later found signs of trauma on the body indicative of a homicide.”

Investigators determined Gangwer was last seen alive June 9.

Gangwer and Nelson both served time in Arizona state prisons, and that is where they met, Dugan said.

Gangwer was released in December after having served more than seven years for a 2005 conviction on sexual conduct with a minor, according to Arizona Department of Corrections records.

Nelson was released from a Florence facility June 2 after serving a six-year sentence for a 2007 rape in Maricopa County. He is listed on the Arizona Sex Offender Website as a Level 3 — or high risk — offender and as an “absconder.”

A news report from Nevada television station KOLO said Nelson removed the GPS ankle monitor he was required to wear as a sex offender.

Though the Tucson investigation is ongoing and detectives have yet to determine whether Nelson killed Gangwer, Nevada law enforcement officials say Gangwer’s pickup truck was seen at a Washoe Lake State Park campground last Thursday and Friday.

Friday night, after Washoe County sheriff’s officials say Nelson killed two women, they found Gangwer’s truck in the garage of the home where the victims died.

Deputies were called to the home in Washoe Valley, 20 miles south of Reno, at about 7:30 p.m. in response to a shooting. A husband and wife had gone to the home of a 70-year-old friend to check on her because she was not answering her telephone, according to Washoe sheriff’s officials.

“The couple approached the home and were confronted by the suspect at the front door,” the news release stated. “The suspect (Nelson) fatally shot the female victim, exchanged gunfire with her husband and then fled the scene.”

The 68-year-old wife was killed. Her husband suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound. The woman who lived in the home was found stabbed to death inside, Washoe County officials said.

Nelson fled in a white Jeep Cherokee and led multiple law enforcement officers from two counties on a high-speed chase that ended when Nelson was shot and killed, the news release said.

Sheriff's investigators have released the name of the man who was found in an abandoned well.

The body of 75-year-old William Sattler was found Wednesday afternoon 25 feet down an abandoned well by deputies who were following up on a missing persons report, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. Sattler died from a single gunshot wound to the abdomen.

The body was found at a property on West Phillips Road west of South Sierrita Mountain Road southwest of Tucson. The area is west of Sahuarita and south of Three Points.

Sattler was reported missing Wednesday, but the sheriff’s department did not release information about who filed the report.

Detectives served multiple search warrants on various locations Wednesday and one person, 51-year-old Donald Stewart, was taken into custody, a news release from the sheriff’s department stated.

Stewart was booked into the Pima County jail and faces one count of first-degree murder.

Anyone with information regarding this death is urged to call 911 or 88-CRIME.

Check back with StarNet for updates.

A couple found dead from gunshot wounds inside a Green Valley home in a possible murder-suicide Saturday have been identified.

George Phillips, 77, and his wife, Alice Phillips, 76, were found by deputies who responded to an unknown problem in the 300 block of North Cape Royal Drive, said Chief Deputy Chris Nanos of the Pima County Sheriff's Department Monday.

The residence is west of Interstate 19, and deputies responded shortly before 6 p.m. to investigate, Nanos said in a news release.

Investigators believe George Phillips shot his wife, and then shot himself, said Nanos.

Detectives found out that George Phillips may have been suffering from a terminal illness, Nanos said.

Police have identified a homicide victim found in a northside home Friday night.

David Martinez, 66, was found by officers conducting a welfare check at a home in the 800 block of West Budmore Terrace near the intersection of North Grant and Flowing Wells roads.

At about 8 p.m., a call was made to 911, asking police to check on Martinez. The 911 caller, a co-worker of Martinez, was waiting outside the house when officers arrived, Sgt. Pete Dugan, spokesman for the Tucson Police Department, said in a news release.

The caller was concerned that Martinez had not shown up for work since the previous Saturday, Dugan said.

Officers entered the house through an unlocked door and found the body, which had “obvious signs of trauma indicative of a homicide,” Dugan said.

No further information has been released.

Anyone with information about Martinez or his death should 911 or 88-CRIME.

A 42-year-old man has died in what Tucson police say is a gang-related shooting.

A mortally wounded Chandler Booker found in front of a house in the 1900 block of South St. David Drive by police officers answering 911 calls about gunfire in the area after 9 p.m. Sunday night. The home is near East Silverlake Road and South Kino Parkway.

Booker was taken to a hospital where he died, Tucson police said in a news release.

Police say initial indications are that the shooting was gang-related, but details have not yet been released.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or 88-CRIME.

A traffic stop Wednesday morning netted Tucson police the suspect in a Friday homicide.

An officer on patrol pulled over a vehicle in the area of West Kelso Street and North Castro Avenue, said Sgt. Pete Dugan, a spokesman for the Tucson Police Department.

During the stop, the officer realized the driver was 18-year-old Madison Michael Molina, who was wanted on a felony warrant in connection to a north-side shooting death Friday, Dugan said.

Molina was booked into the Pima County jail and faces a charge of first-degree murder.

He is suspected of shooting Diego Valdez, 30, last Friday morning in front of a business in the 700 block of East Fort Lowell Road, near North First Avenue. Valdez later died at a hospital.

The traffic stop where Molia was arrested was in the same area as the shooting.

Check back with Tucson.com for updates.

An elderly man found shot multiple times in his south side mobile home Monday was taken by Rural/Metro Fire Department paramedics to a hospital where he died.

The death of Clarence A. Russell, 72, of the 3200 block of East Mossman Road, is under investigation by homicide detectives, said Deputy Tom Peine, a Pima County Sheriff's Department spokesman.

Russell lived in a neighborhood east of South Country Club Road and north of East Bilby Road. 

Detectives questioned an acquaintance of Russell's late Monday night about Russell's injuries, Peine said. Investigators did not release further information about the case.

Shortly after 2 p.m. Monday, Rural/Metro firefighters responded to Russell's home in response to a report of a fall victim, Peine said. When paramedics arrived, they observed Russell's injuries and called the sheriff's department.

Paramedics took Russell to University of Arizona Medical Center where he died, Peine said.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or 88-CRIME.

A man linked to the local Eastside Crips street gang was arrested Monday by federal authorities in Ohio.

Otis Haralson, 36, was taken into custody by a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive strike team at a residence in Canal Winchester, Ohio without incident, said Sgt. Chris Widmer, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.

Haralson was taken into custody on an arrest warrant associated with the Eastside Crips street gang crackdown in Tucson in August after a multi-agency investigation, Widmer said.

Haralson was booked into the Franklin County jail in Columbus, Ohio and is awaiting extradition to Tucson.

No further information on Haralson was released.

Last month, search warants were served at nine locations in Tucson, and more than 80 firearms were seized and 16 people were arrested in the operation targeting the street gang.

The Tucson Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Arizona Department of Public Safety's gang unit carried out the operation.

More than 250 law enforcement personnel were involved in the operation, which connected individuals to shootings, homicides, money laundering and other crimes, said Police Chief Roberto Villaseñor at the time of the arrests in August. 

Tucson police are investigating the shooting death Friday afternoon of a man on the south side.

Officers were called just before 3 p.m. to the intersection of East 32nd Street and South Fremont Avenue for a man lying in the road. Officers found the man, who had been shot. He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a Tucson Police Department news release.

Homicide and gang detectives were called to investigate. Witnesses told detectives the man had been shot multiple times by an unknown person, who left in a vehicle.

Anyone with information should call 911 or 88-CRIME.

Tucson police have released the name of the man found Friday shot to death on a south-side street.

The body of Edward Murphy, 29, was found just before 3 p.m., lying in the roadway at the intersection of East 32nd Street and South Fremont Avenue in a neighborhood just east of South Kino Parkway, Officer Brandon Tatum, a spokesman for the Tucson Police Department, said in a news release.

Witnesses said Murphy had been shot multiple times by a man who drove off in a sedan, but they could not provide police with a description of the car.

Anyone with information about the shooting should call 911 or 88-CRIME.

Police have arrested three men in connection with a home invasion Monday night that left one man dead and another injured.

Just before 11 p.m. three armed men forced their way into a second-story apartment at 1150 E. Irvington Road between South Park and South Campbell avenues.

“Three suspects approached the apartment and one of them knocked on the door. As one of the residents opened the door slightly, the suspects forced their way into the apartment,” Sgt. Chris Widmer, a spokesman for the Tucson Police Department, said in a news release.

“They ordered the three occupants to the floor and demanded money and drugs. The suspects ransacked the apartment while holding the victims at gunpoint,” he said.

While the armed men were searching the apartment, a 12-year-old girl who lived there returned from a relative’s apartment in the same complex.

“She was confronted by an armed suspect at the door who pointed a rifle at her and told her to leave,” Widmer said.

The girl ran back to her relative’s apartment and told them what happened. A woman in the apartment called 911 and the girl’s relative, 40-year old Dekota Luise Estrella, headed to the apartment to investigate.

While the woman was on the phone with police, shots were fired. Police later learned a 45-year-old man inside the apartment was shot and suffered non-life threatening injuries.

Estrella confronted the suspects outside the apartment. He was shot multiple times and died at the scene, Widmer said.

A TPD helicopter arrived at the apartment complex in time to see the three suspects running through the parking lot. The air support pilot was able to guide officers on the ground to the fleeing men. Officers also found three rifles abandoned along the route taken by the men as they ran away from the apartment.

Arrested were Alberto Emmanuel Salas, 41, Juan Acedo-Lopez, 19, and Edward Ochoa, 39.

The men were booked into the Pima County jail. Each faces one count of first-degree murder, and three counts each of armed robbery, aggravated robbery and kidnapping.

Additionally, Salas faces four counts of aggravated assault, and one count each of prohibited possessor with a gun and possession of a narcotic drug for sale. Acedo-Lopez and Ochoa each face three counts of aggravated assault and Ochoa faces one count of prohibited possessor with a gun.

A 13-year-old Tucson girl found dead in the desert last June was killed, according to the medical examiner’s office, however the cause of her death was not revealed.

The autopsy report, released Friday, lists the manner of Maribel Victoria Gonzales’ death as homicide, however the cause of her death was redacted, as was much of the report.

Pima County Sheriff’s Department detectives redacted the information “because the case is still active and release of that information could be harmful to the investigation,” said Deputy Tracy Suitt, a spokesman for the department.

Gonzales’ body was found June 6 in the desert northwest of Tucson, on the east side of Trico Road, about a half-mile south of Avra Valley Road, after a deputy responded to a call about suspicious activity in the area.

She was last seen at about 8 p.m., June 3, when she told her mother she was going to a friend's house. When Gonzales did not return by morning, her mother called the friend and learned she never arrived.

Because of decomposition, the medical examiner’s office had to wait for the results of DNA tests before Gonzales could be positively identified.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information should call 911 or 88-CRIME.

A man was found dead at the intersection of South 13th Avenue and West Utah Street Sunday morning.

Tucson Police Department homicide detectives are investigating a possible homicide, according to Sgt. Chris Widmer, a police spokesman.

At around 5:27 a.m., police responded to the intersection after reports of a man being down. A 20-year-old man was found dead at the scene with obvious signs of trauma.

Police are asking anyone with more information to call 911.

A man was found dead at the intersection of South 13th Avenue and West Utah Street on Sunday morning.

Tucson Police Department homicide detectives are investigating a possible homicide, according to Sgt. Chris Widmer, a police spokesman.

At around 5:30 a.m., police responded to the intersection after reports of a man being down. A 20-year-old man was found dead at the scene with obvious signs of trauma.

Police are asking anyone with more information to call 911.

Roommate arrested for death of woman in downtown area home

Tucson police arrested 26-year-old Graham Karber on Sunday on suspicion of killing a woman Friday night in her downtown-area home.

Police officers went to the 400 block of East Fifth Street, near North Fourth Avenue, around 8 p.m. Friday after receiving a 911 call from a man saying that he found Amanda Vinson, 29, dead inside the home, according to Sgt. Chris Widmer, a police spokesman.

Vinson showed "obvious signs of trauma," Widmer said in a news release.

Detectives concluded that Karber and Vinson lived together at the residence on East Fifth Street as roommates. The cause of Vinson’s death has not been determined yet, but detectives determined that Karber was responsible for the murder, police said.

At about 9 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 19, a TPD officer found Karber during a follow-up investigation. The suspect fled on foot but after a short chase was taken into custody without incident.

After killing Vinson, he cut his hair and beard, police said. 

Detectives asked anyone who has spoken to Karber since Friday night to contact 911 or 88-CRIME.

South Tucson man arrested in stabbing death of roommate

South Tucson Police arrested Shawn Abbas, 36, in connection with the stabbing death of his roommate Saturday.

Lt. Jeff Inorio, of South Tucson Police Department, reported in a news release that police went to the Bordon’s Court Apartments in the 200 Block of East 33rd Street at 4 p.m. Saturday in response to a report of a stabbing.

South Tucson Police found Christian Logan, 22, with a single stab wound to the chest. Logan was taken to a local hospital, where he died.

Inorio said the two, who had been roommates for about six months, were arguing when Abbas allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed Logan.

Abbas was booked into Pima County Jail on suspicion of second-degree murder, Inorio said.

Tucson Police Department arrested 26-year-old Graham Karber Sunday for the Friday night homicide of a woman in a downtown area home.

Police officers responded to a scene in the 400 block of East Fifth Street near North Fourth Avenue at around 8 p.m. on Friday night after receiving a 911 call from a man saying that he found Amanda Vinson, 29, dead inside the home, according to Sgt. Chris Widmer, a police spokesman.

Vinson showed "obvious signs of trauma," Widmer said in a news release.

Detectives concluded that Karber and Vinson lived together at the home on Fifth Street as roommates. The cause of Vinson’s death has not been determined yet, but detectives determined that Karber was responsible for the murder, police said.

At about 9 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 19, a TPD officer found Karber during a follow-up investigation. The suspect fled on foot but after a short chase, was taken into custody without incident.

After murdering Vinson, Karber cut his hair and beard, police said. 

Detectives asked anyone who has spoken to Karber after the murder to contact 911 or 88-CRIME.

A convicted burglar serving time in prison was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, burglary and kidnapping in connection with the 2008 disappearance of an east-side woman.

Tucson police announced the arrest in the cold case on Tuesday.

On Feb. 15, 2008, the family of Kay Read, then 62, reported that Read and her van, a turquoise 1996 Dodge Caravan, were missing. Read needed crutches and leg braces to walk, which were left at her house along with her glasses, according to previous reports about the case. 

The day after Read went missing from her home in the 7300 block of East marigold Circle near Davis-Monthan Air Force Base on Feb. 14, her Caravan was found ablaze in a parking lot less than two miles from her home at the intersection of East Golf Links and South Kolb roads.

Police later obtained surveillance footage showing a man purchasing gasoline for Read’s vehicle at a Conoco gas station, the Star reported in 2008.

Because of "suspicious circumstances," police investigated Read's disappearance as a homicide.

Police detectives identified Luis Vargas as a potential suspect early on in the investigation. Vargas was sentenced to prison for an unrelated incident later in 2008, authorities said.

The police were aware that Vargas was already in prison, which gave the police more time to investigate thoroughly, said Sgt. Chris Widmer, a police spokesman.  

Tucson police worked together with the Pima County Attorney's Office and more than six years after Read went missing, arrested Vargas. 

On Nov. 24, Vargas was charged and arraigned with first-degree murder, second degree burglary and kidnapping. 

In 1997, Vargas was arrested and later convicted in Pima County Consolidated Justice Court of driving under the influence. He was sentenced to one year in prison.

In 2004, he was again arrested for DUI. He pleaded guilty to aggravated DUI while having a suspended license.

He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison.

His criminal behavior began to escalate, when in 2007 he was arrested and charged with burglary and auto theft. He pleaded guilty to theft of a means of transportation and was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.

Before being sentenced on the 2007 offense, Vargas pleaded guilty to an unrelated 2008 burglary. He was sentenced to four years in prison to be served consecutive with the 2007 conviction.

His release date for the prior conviction was scheduled for today, Dec. 2.

Since her disappearance in 2008, Read’s family has been searching for traces of her and the suspects by offering a $20,000 reward and establishing a website in her honor, FindKayRead.com, where members of the family periodically post updates.

In a Jan. 29 posting, the family wrote, “Will we ever get answers? I doubt that the person or persons responsible for this evil act will ever read this, but our hopes and prayers are someday they will slip up and make another mistake and get caught. Or better yet that something will soften their hearts and they give us an anonymous tip or lead to help us find Kay and bring her home.”

The family has also set up blood drives in Read’s honor. The upcoming blood drive is on Sunday, Dec. 14.

The Star reached out to Mary R. Seagle, Read’s sister. She was not immediately available for comment. 

Tucson Police are investigating a murder at a north-side apartment complex.

Police discovered the body of Darl Gene Draper, 56, Monday evening at the Monte Vista Apartments, 4015 E. Monte Vista Dr., after a concerned neighbor asked police to check on the man, who hadn't been seen for a couple of days.

The body showed "obvious signs of trauma," said Tucson Police Sgt. Pete Dugan. He said it appears Draper had been dead for a couple of days.

Anyone with information is asked to call 88-CRIME or 911.