Fugitive Mother Arrested in Mexico for Daughter's 1997 Murder
After more than 12 years on the run, Anna Marlene Somoza, 60, was apprehended by U.S. Marshals in Mexico, where she had evaded capture with alleged cartel connections.
Anna Marlene Somoza, 60, has been arrested in Mexico by U.S. law enforcement officers on first-degree murder charges related to the 1997 death of her 3-year-old daughter, Crystal Reyes. Somoza had been a fugitive for over 12 years, reportedly utilizing connections to cartels to avoid apprehension in Mexico.
Somoza is awaiting extradition to the United States to face charges. According to authorities, Reyes suffered severe abuse, torture, and starvation before her death. On January 30, 1997, Reyes was allegedly suffocated with a towel taped to her face and left to die in a sealed cardboard box.
The investigation into Reyes' death began in November 1998 when a hunter discovered human bone fragments in a deserted area of Arizona. In August 2014, forensic DNA analysis identified the remains as those of Crystal Reyes. Detectives confirmed her identity using DNA from the child's biological father, which led to charges against Somoza and her then-boyfriend, Avelino Tamala, in December 2014. Tamala was convicted of Crystal's murder in 2016 and sentenced to life in prison.
Somoza had a prior criminal history, including connections to drug trafficking networks in the 1980s and 1990s. Following a 1993 arrest for marijuana offenses, she acted as a confidential informant for an Arizona law enforcement agency, where she met Tamala, a narcotics detective. They began an "improper romantic relationship," according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
After Reyes' birth in Mexico in 1993, Somoza and Reyes moved in with Tamala in Arizona. Reyes was not Tamala's daughter. Child abuse experts suggest that Reyes' abuse may have gone undetected because she was not attending school, as the education system is a primary source for reporting suspected abuse.
In 1999, Somoza and Tamala were arrested on drug- and weapon-related charges. Somoza served eight years in federal prison and was deported in 2008. Following the 2014 identification of Reyes' remains and connection to Somoza, a multi-agency search was initiated. The U.S. Marshals Service noted that Somoza had taken "deliberate and extensive measures to evade detection."
An arrest warrant for extradition was obtained in October 2022. In early September of this year, authorities learned Somoza was evading detection in Cuernavaca, Mexico. On October 18, Mexican law enforcement apprehended her in Xochitepec, Mexico. The U.S. Marshals Service is now working with the Mexican government on the extradition process, which could take months or even years if Somoza challenges the process in Mexican courts.