Saturday, January 16, 2010

Las Vegas, NV: Man indicted in death of estranged wife

By Cara McCoy (contact)
Friday, Jan. 15, 2010 | 9:14 p.m.

A 26-year-old man accused of killing his estranged wife after a fight about custody of their three children then, after realizing she was dead, putting her body in a trash bin has been indicted by a Clark County grand jury on a charge of murder.

Francisco Vazquez-Rosas is set to be arraigned Jan. 21 on one charge of murder in connection with the Dec. 13, 2008, death of Teresa Guzman.

Prosecutors said Guzman’s body hasn’t been found.

Guzman was reported missing by her brother-in-law on May 20, 2009. He told police he had last seen her in December 2008. Guzman had wanted to move to Colorado or Oklahoma with her three children but Vazquez-Rosas, her husband, wouldn’t let her take them with her, according to an arrest report.

Five months later, the brother-in-law again contacted police. He said he had lunch with Guzman the day she went missing and that she was upset Vazquez-Rosas wouldn’t let her move their three children out of state.

At the time, Guzman was living with her brother because she and Vazquez-Rosas had been separated for about three months, her brother-in-law told police.

After Guzman went missing, her brother contacted Vazquez-Rosas and asked him to pick up her personal items from his apartment, her brother-in-law said.

In December 2009, another relative of Guzman’s called police. She said Guzman’s children had spent the night with her and when she asked one of Guzman’s daughters if she missed her mother, she said the girl told her she saw her dad choke her mother and put her in the closet, the report says. He then put her in a trash bag, the girl said, according to the report.

On Dec. 23, 2009, police interviewed Vazquez-Rosas and conducted a polygraph test. Investigators stated they believed he was being deceptive, the report says.

Vazquez-Rosas eventually told detectives that on Dec. 13, 2008, he had been with Guzman at an apartment in the 3100 block of South Nellis Boulevard.

At first, Vazquez-Rosas said, Guzman wouldn’t speak to him. Eventually she told him she was planning to leave and was taking the kids with her, the report says. She wouldn’t say where they were going.

The two argued. Guzman threatened to call police and began packing the children’s clothing to leave. Upset, Vazquez-Rosas grabbed the bag and during the struggle, Guzman fell down and hit the right side of her jaw on the door frame, Vazquez-Rosas told police. She fell to the ground and her eyes rolled back in her head, according to the report.

He told police he thought she had fainted because she had done so during other struggles in the past, the report says.

Vazquez-Rosas helped Guzman to her feet and the argument began again, he reportedly told police.

He pushed her out the front door, but she stuck her foot in the door to keep him from closing it, the report says. Vazquez-Rosas grabbed her foot, lifted it up and pushed her back; she then fell to the ground, landing on her side near asphalt and a curb, he reportedly told police.

He told the investigators he left her out there for awhile but eventually returned to check on her when he realized she hadn’t moved, police said.

At that point, he dragged her back into the apartment and tried to revive her – he hit her in the face and even kissed her to try and get a reaction, the report says. Then he dragged her into a closet and rubbed alcohol on her body to try and wake her up, police said.

When he realized she was dead, he dragged her across the hallway and toward the trash bin, which he put her in head first, he told police.

He said he didn’t know when the bin had been emptied.

Vazquez-Rosa has been held without bond in the Clark County Detention Center since his arrest Dec. 24.

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