After four years, the search for Rita Gutierrez-Garcia has come to an end. The remains of Gutierrez-Garcia have been recovered east of Longmont, and the man charged in her disappearance and murder is set to plead guilty in connection with her death.
When Texas officials told him the warrant was for sexual assault and that he was likely to be extradited, the indictment states that Figueroa responded, “That’s the only warrant? That’s it? … Just sex assault? … Sweet, let’s get this over and done with so I can get my bond, get it posted.”
The indictment also states Figueroa told a cellmate that he had strangled Gutierrez-Garcia after punching her into unconsciousness after she called him a “weirdo.” The indictment states he said her body was in “an area not accessible to the public.” A separate witness testified before a grand jury that Figueroa said he had buried Gutierrez-Garcia’s body and that “the only way anyone would find it is if police inserted a probe into his brain,” according to the indictment.
The indictment also states that investigators found DNA evidence that confirms Gutierrez-Garcia was in Figueroa’s pickup. Cellphone data from early March 18, 2018, also shows that her cellphone traveled the same path as the pickup until it was turned off at 3:10 a.m., just after Longmont police dispatch received a hang-up 911 call at 3:07 a.m. Dispatchers tried calling back twice but got no answer.