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China

La Mera Mera
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The body of a missing woman has been found inside a van, five days after authorities in New Mexico towed it away.

......authorities say Tammie Cessna's body was found last week in an impound lot after state police executed a search warrant.

Moriarty Police Chief Bobby Garcia says Cessna's van was found at a Moriarty motel but officers didn't see the body.

Garcia says he doesn't feel his officers did anything wrong by taping up the van with the body still inside. Authorities say it's unclear if Cessna was dead when the van was towed.

He says the van wasn't opened because officers didn't have a search warrant.

Authorities say 41-year-old Mark Chavez is facing charges in her death.

It's unclear if he had an attorne
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4653003
 
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My disjointed shoutbox posts, to be made coherent at a later time:

Unless they had probable cause, like her being visible through the window of the van, the police could not have opened that van without a warrant without risking that any evidence the van contained would be thrown out of court as the result of an unlawful search.

I'm sure the man claimed she lent him the van or left it at his house, so there was no reason to do more than impound the van and wait for a warrant, which was probably not a high priority since it appeared empty.

Missing adults are low priority unless there is real evidence of foul play, such as witnesses to abduction or threats beforehand.

Perhaps it deserved more expediency than it got, but don't expect a rush job just because a woman might have skipped town with a new man.

There aren't enough resources to track down all of the adults who just up and leave one day for no apparent reason. She was missing, but not considered missing and endangered.

Almost all families of missing persons think that their loved one would never just run off, but the majority of missing teens and adults have voluntarily left. Family claims are not considered evidence.

It sucks, and I hope they get answers, but I really don't think that the police department did anything procedurally wrong.
 
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My thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim. I pray for closure for them, and for justice.

~shadow
 
Hopefully the will recharge him soon. I bet they're working on the case to see what they could have missed or working new leads.
 
It's not that they don't have anything to go on. The data aren't in from the labs; that's what is the holdup. He won't be charged until official lab results and reports link him to the murder. It's a longer process to wait for lab results because it's not like on TV where everything processes faster than Kinko's, and JMO, I think the DA's office is serving the public better by being conservative and waiting for the real data to come through before officially charging suspects with murder. I'm not a believer in Chavez' innocence, but I can't even imagine the damage a false charge and arrest can create. Think about being arrested and charged without all the facts in place, then because of the publicity and county jail time you lose your job and maybe get CPS involved in your family. But then the DA's office turns around and says, "Ooops! DNA tests show someone else did it! My bad." It'd be hell to make things right again.

Aaaaand that was a big lecture. :oops:

Despite that evidence, Chavez was released from the Torrance County Jail on Friday. Cessna’s sister Wendy learned about his release through a phone call from KRQE News 13. “And my biggest fear is that he’s going to run. He’s going to be gone,” said Wendy Cessna.

Wendy says she spoke to the Torrance County DA’s Office about the case earlier this week who said there’s a problem. “Because the evidence from the lab hasn’t came back and the cause of death hasn’t came back yet,” said Wendy.

Court papers filed in Torrance County Magistrate Court on Thursday back those claims. Prosecutors filed a “nolle prosequi,” saying the charges against Chavez have been “dismissed without prejudice pending further investigation including, but not limited to, receipt and consideration of autopsy findings and associated analysis, forensic testing of trace evidence and field investigative follow-up.”

http://krqe.com/2014/02/07/murder-suspect-released-from-jail/
 
https://www.facebook.com/pages/For-the-Benefit-of-Tammie-Cessnas-Children/1481221732104951

A friend of the family set up a donation program through Wells Fargo for the children of Tammie Cessna.

It's not that they don't have anything to go on. The data aren't in from the labs; that's what is the holdup. He won't be charged until official lab results and reports link him to the murder. It's a longer process to wait for lab results because it's not like on TV where everything processes faster than Kinko's, and JMO, I think the DA's office is serving the public better by being conservative and waiting for the real data to come through before officially charging suspects with murder. I'm not a believer in Chavez' innocence, but I can't even imagine the damage a false charge and arrest can create. Think about being arrested and charged without all the facts in place, then because of the publicity and county jail time you lose your job and maybe get CPS involved in your family. But then the DA's office turns around and says, "Ooops! DNA tests show someone else did it! My bad." It'd be hell to make things right again.

I hope you're right Kitty.

Prayers for the children and for the rest of her family...

~shadow
 
Procedurally The New Mexico State Police did nothing wrong However;
When the vehicle was towed/impounded it is typically standard procedure for the towing company to inventory the contents of the van, -For liability purposes-
It was at that point that the body should have been discovered, and the search warrant executed......
It sounds like someone, somewhere didn't do their job correctly......
 
it seems that she was found inside HER van... no search warrant is needed. Someone droped the ball...
Even more: Her family pleaded with the police to search inside the van (they couldn't do it themselves because it had been towed) and they refused.
 
it seems that she was found inside HER van... no search warrant is needed. Someone droped the ball...
Even more: Her family pleaded with the police to search inside the van (they couldn't do it themselves because it had been towed) and they refused.
She was not present to give consent, so I believe a warrant was, in fact, needed. I don't think her status as missing would have circumvented that. It's a bit of a sticky wicket, but I think the police erred on the side of caution in the interests of playing strictly by the book as it's currently written.

Also, the police were right not to allow her family to search the van.
 
Moriarty murder suspect charged, again
Police thought Mark Chavez killed his girlfriend, but they said they didn’t have enough evidence and had to let him walk
[...]
evidence is back and Chavez has been charged with her murder.
[...]
County District Attorney Robert Cates said they think they have got their guy.
[...]

has been in jail since July for another case. Thursday afternoon, he was served with an open count of murder and tampering with evidence charges for the death of Tammie Cessna.

[...]

Police believed back then Chavez was responsible. He lived and worked as a maintenance man at the Super 8,
[...]

He was arrested for the murder, but the D.A. later dropped the murder charge for a lack of evidence.
[...]

a year later, the D.A. said they got back blood and DNA evidence that places Chavez and Cessna in a room at the Super 8 and shows there was a fight.


”As it turned out, he does figure as being the primary suspect and ultimately we believe the person we can prove caused the death of Tammie Cessna,”
[....]

Cessna’s sister said she is pleased the man she believes killed her sister is finally being held responsible for it.

[...]
http://krqe.com/2014/12/18/moriarty-murder-suspect-charged-again/
 
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