Anna Marlene Somoza arrested in Mexico over 1997 killing of her 3-year-old daughter

Right · 2Anna Marlene Somoza, 60, has been arrested in Mexico on first-degree murder charges nearly 30 years after the death of her 3-year-old daughter, Crystal Reyes, according to the US Marshals Service. 1 2 Right · 2The Marshals Service said that Mexican law enforcement officers caught Somoza on Oct. 18 in Xochitepec, after the agency learned in early September that Somoza was 'actively evading detection' in Cuernavaca. 1 2 Right · 2Authorities said Somoza's close connections to cartels allowed Somoza to avoid apprehension, and the Marshals Service said Somoza had 'taken deliberate and extensive measures to evade detection by law enforcement'. 1 2

Right · 2The Marshals Service said Reyes was subjected to severe abuse, torture and starvation before dying: confined in a small dog kennel, bound at the hands and feet and gagged for weeks at a time, and on Jan. 30, 1997, bound, suffocated with a towel taped to the face and left in a sealed cardboard box. 1 2 Right · 2A hunter found human bone fragments in a deserted area of Arizona in November 1998, and in August 2014 forensic DNA analysis identified them as Reyes's remains, confirmed using DNA from the child's biological father. 1 2 Right · 2In December 2014 Somoza and Avelino Tamala, Somoza's boyfriend at the time of the killing, were charged with first-degree murder; Tamala was found guilty in 2016 and sentenced to life in prison, but Somoza had already been deported. 1 2

Right · 2According to the Marshals Service, Somoza had been linked to a major drug trafficking network along the southern Arizona border in the 1980s and 1990s, became a confidential informant after a 1993 marijuana arrest, and met Tamala, a narcotics detective, with whom Somoza began 'an improper romantic relationship'. 1 2 Right · 2Somoza and Tamala were arrested on drug and weapon charges in 1999; Somoza served eight years in federal prison and was deported in 2008. 1 2 Right · 2After the remains were linked to Somoza in 2014, investigators from five state and federal agencies searched for Somoza; an arrest warrant allowing extradition was obtained in October 2022, and in 2026 the search was designated a major case with extra manpower and resources. 1 2

Right · 2Former federal prosecutor Russell Lorfing told Fox News Digital that the Marshals will work with the Mexican government and that a handover could take months, or years if Somoza files an amparo, a constitutional appeal he said 'hits the pause button'; no extradition date has been reported. 1 2 Right · 1Stacy Vaughan of the child abuse prevention group Childhelp said the abuse likely went unnoticed because Reyes was not attending school, and that modern mandatory-reporting laws might prevent a similar case. 1