Family of missing Pueblo woman calls for homicide investigation

BERNALILLO, N.M. (KRQE) – When the body of a missing mother from the Jemez Pueblo turned up in a ravine, her family had more questions than answers. They claim New Mexico law enforcement agencies botched a criminal case before it even began. Lynelle Tafoya’s family is now asking the feds to step in.

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“Lynelle, she had a sense of humor,” Brenda Tafoya recalled memories of her daughter, Lynelle. “She was funny, always joking around, making us laugh, and loving with her kids.

Brenda knows her daughter is more than a statistic. However, it’s been a hard message to get across when the 34-year-old mother of four went missing from her home on the Jemez Pueblo in August of 2021.

“She told me, ‘I’ll be back, mom’,” Tafoya recalled. “She left, and that was it. She never came back.”

More than a week had passed when Brenda got a call from a Pueblo police officer asking her to come to the station. “{He} Told me that they found her. Her body in Santa Ana,” said Tafoya. “And I just broke down,” she recalled. “Telling me that she would have probably been in the ravine for maybe a week. They didn’t really know.”

So what happened to Lynelle Tafoya between the Jemez Pueblo and where she was found in the Town of Bernalillo near Santa Ana? Tafoya’s mom has been searching for those answers for more than two years now.

“She didn’t do this on her own,” said Tafoya. “Somebody did something.”

Brenda Tafoya, Lynelle’s mom

One of the investigating officers in Tafoya’s case is Bernalillo Police Officer Jeramie Nevarez. He’s since been fired from the department after a domestic violence arrest KRQE reported on last year. But the day Tafoya’s daughter was found in the Ranchitos ditch near I-40 in Bernalillo, Nevarez responded to the call and wrote the police report.

He noted her “pants were down around her ankles,” a cell phone was found “about 500 yards north,” and her backpack was located futher down along the trail on Santa Ana Pueblo property. Bernalillo and Sandoval County fire departments were called to retrieve the body.

But the officer writes “As of now, no signs of foul play were observed or reported. End of report.” The case is filed as an “unattended death.”

Was the evidence mishandled?

“Extremely troubling to see the evidence in this case,” explained David Adams, Brenda Tafoya’s attorney. “I mean, I think the first signs of foul play was her being naked in the ravine.”

Adams claims authorities should have opened a homicide investigation. He argues potential evidence was mishandled and destroyed.

“{Police} gave me back her phone, her backpack, and thinking, you know, well, don’t you guys need these to find out what happened or go into her phone or anything?” Brenda Tafoya said.

Hoping another agency would dig deeper, Tafoya says she gave her daughter’s cell phone to Santa Ana Pueblo Police. “And unfortunately, in that process, the contents of the phone were destroyed,” Adams told KRQE.

Tafoya’s attorney calls this case a ‘jurisdictional nightmare’ for law enforcement since it involves the Jemez Pueblo, the Santa Ana Pueblo, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Township of Bernalillo; a main reason he argues, for federal investigators to step in.

“We’ve got 22 Tribal communities in New Mexico,” Adams explained. “And the second that somebody leaves the reservation, you enter a different jurisdiction.” He explained the overlapping jurisdictions often lead to a lack of ownership and an overall lack of communication in an investigation.

“This is an opportunity to kind of spread awareness about how many cases there are that aren’t being properly investigated and to ensure that they get investigated by the appropriate agencies,” said Adams.

Family is now asking the feds to step in

Adams sent a letter with a synopsis of Tafoya’s case to the U.S. Attorney’s Office asking his office to open a homicide investigation. “We have both, you know, a very unique relationship with our tribal partners and responsibility towards them and a unique ability to bring resources to solve problems,” said Alex Uballez, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico.

Uballez wouldn’t speak about Tafoya’s specific case, but the Justice Department’s ‘Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons’ or ‘MMIP’ outreach program is a priority, he says.

“As communities, as families and next of kin reach out, they have someone to reach out to,” explained Uballez.

“Trying to bridge that gap and get these different agencies to cooperate with each other to communicate – is a big goal of the program,” explained Eliot Neal, MMIP Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southwest Region.

Neal is a full-time MMIP coordinator with the U.S. Attorney’s office. In cases like Tafoya’s, Neal works with federal law enforcement and tribal partners to get answers, and if possible, hold criminals accountable.

“Without some of the physical evidence, we’re relying more heavily on witness interviews, things like that — circumstantial evidence, things like that, which is just as valuable in court,” Neal explained.

The medical examiner for Tafoya wrote, “This is a complicated case. The possible causes of death include toxic effects of methamphetamine and drowing, or a combination of both.” The official manner of death is “undetermined.”

“Up until the last few years through New Mexico and the Department of Justice, you see a lot more task forces being put together to help address what they consider to be an epidemic in itself,” said Adams.

Determined to help in this case, Adams points to an “unusual finding” in the young mother’s autopsy. There’s a section noting “The ends of her fingers were missing.”

“Signs that would have suggested, you know, further investigation,” said Adams. Tafoya’s mom Brenda, who’s now caring for her young grandchildren just wants answers. “I’m the grandma, yeah. But nobody can replace their mom,” said Brenda Tafoya.

KRQE asked Brenda Tafoya if she believes her daughter died in an unattended death. “No,” Tafoya said. “I don’t want this on nobody, but if this happens,” Brenda Tafoya went on, “Have a voice. I mean, this is the only way they’re going to hear us.”

Adams believes at least one of the suspects they’ve identified is serving time in federal prison.
However, federal investigators won’t confirm who, if anyone, they’re looking at in Tafoya’s case.

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