Maria Gonzalez arrived in Tucson from her hometown of Cumpas, Sonora, in 1993 to earn money to support her two young sons.
Gonzalez, 26, worked as a cook and waitress in Mexican restaurants and sent her earnings to Mexico, where her parents were caring for her sons. But her family stopped receiving money in the summer of 1996.
Gonzalez's severely decomposed body was discovered on June 21, 1996, by children who were playing in a desert area near the 2500 block of East Irvington Road, not far from a nightclub she had visited. She had been gunned down, and her purse was missing. Police identified her through fingerprints.
Tucson police investigators believed at the time that Gonzalez was killed two weeks earlier, on the night of June 8, when she and two girlfriends went to what was then El Toro nightclub, 4726 S. Country Club Road. Gonzalez was last seen with a man in the parking lot of the club.
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Status
Though the Gonzalez case is not assigned to a detective, it is currently under review for the first time since 1996, said Officer Charles Rydzak, a spokesman for the Tucson Police Department. However, there is no new evidence nor material available for DNA testing.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Gonzalez's parents brought her sons to Tucson several times a year for visits. In July 1996, they and the children, then ages 7 and 9, drove more than 200 miles from the farming and ranching community of Cumpas to claim their daughter's body from the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office. If it weren't for Gonzalez's fingerprint identification, her parents might never have learned her fate.
"If there is not a database somewhere with their fingerprints, it takes time to be able to identify them," said Carol Gaxiola, director of Homicide Survivors, a support and advocacy group.
Even when investigators do learn the names of homicide victims, they sometimes don't have enough information to find their families. The difficulty is compounded when a victim is from out of state or outside the country.
"The information is somewhere," Gaxiola said, "but it doesn't connect."
ABOUT THE SERIES
The Star tells the stories behind Tucson-area violent crimes that remain unsolved - sometimes many years later. Anyone with information is urged to call 88-CRIME. Tips also can be submitted online at www.88crime.org; or by text message at 274637, then enter tip259 plus your text message.
Contact reporter Kimberly Matas at kmatas@ azstarnet.com or at 573-4191 if you have been a victim of an unsolved crime or if you are related to a victim.
