Tuesday, July 13, 2021

The Disappearance of Cindy Rivera


Cindy Rivera went missing at the age of 19 on June 30th, 2012. The young mother was last seen at her father's house in Las Vegas, New Mexico, where she lived with her family members and a bedridden man who was under her care. Cindy left the home on the evening of June 30th, after telling the bedridden man that she would only be gone for a few minutes. Unfortunately, she never returned. 

Cindy left her infant son in the bathroom, and the bedridden man reportedly heard the baby crying all night. When Cindy's family members returned home the following morning, they found Cindy's slippers, a few cigarettes, and a lighter strewn across the ground outside. Both Cindy and Cindy's car were nowhere in sight. She was reported missing shortly thereafter.

Over the years, police have reportedly followed many leads in the case, but Cindy has still not been found. Cindy's family members believe that she was kidnapped and murdered. In fact, they originally named two different men as the probable killers--one of them being her ex-husband and father of one of her children. The family members later stated that they believed the ex-husband was the one responsible--and they had even heard rumors that he bragged about killing Cindy and burying her in a remote desert area. Despite this, police have not named the ex-husband or the other man as suspects in the case. They stated that they simply do not have probable cause to execute search warrants on either man. Neither of them have been publicly identified, but they reportedly have not been cooperative with the investigation and have both obtained lawyers.

Cindy remains missing today. The Las Vegas, New Mexico State Police are investigating her case. If you have any information that could help the investigation, please contact authorities at (505) 425-6771. 
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UPDATE (July 2021):

A man named Anselmo “Chemo” Richard Ortiz (37) has been charged in connection with Cindy's disappearance. According to the affidavits, Ortiz is believed to have helped Cindy's ex-husband,  Christopher Trujillo, kidnap and kill Cindy around the time of her 2012 disappearance. 

Many have long suspected that both Trujillo and Ortiz were involved in Cindy's disappearance. However, investigators initially did not have enough have enough to charge either of them. A year after Cindy's disappearance, Ortiz was convicted on drug-trafficking charges and was in prison from 2013 to 2019. Upon his release, Ortiz reunited with Trujillo and began working for him at his towing company. At that point, their relationship began to sour. Trujillo reportedly accused of Ortiz of using company credit cards for personal charges. He also threatened to harm Ortiz's son. 

During April 2021, Ortiz reached out to investigators--stating he wanting to speak with them about Cindy's disappearance. He also began to reach out to Cindy's family members on Facebook. Around the same time, Trujillo began behaving erratically. 

On May 2nd, 2021, Trujillo's wife contacted the police and stated that Trujillo was threatened to harm both Ortiz and himself. Shortly thereafter, Trujillo killed himself in La Cienega. Police retrieved his phone, which included record conversations that incriminated him in Cindy's disappearance. During one of the conversations, Trujillo stated "I killed my ex-wife, Cindy Rivera, and buried her in the national forest. I’m going to tell them [Ortiz] killed her and buried her."

Ortiz remains in jail while his charges are pending. Cindy's remains have still not been found. 

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