Police deny body is in vehicle, 16 days later body confirmed in vehicle

[SunSun]

On November 22, 2021, New Mexico State police were called out to a trailer park in Chaparral, NM, by the property manager who reported that a girl told one of the tenants that that they had killed somebody and they had them in the car. The car was left on the trailer park property. The manager said that the sheriff's office had come out the night before, and told her they couldn't open the vehicle without probable cause.

The video at the link shows law enforcement officials peeking in through the tinted windows and saying that the foul odor must be a sewer line and not the car. Law enforcement told the people at the trailer park there was no body and the car wasn't their problem. They told the park people that they could call someone to tow it away. It was towed that same day to a towing yard a few blocks away, where 16 days later a body was discovered in the car.

Human remains found inside vehicle in Chaparral

Video and audio in article at link - KFOX14 seeks answers from Otero County Sheriff's Office about body found Chaparral

911 caller expresses frustration about Otero County Sheriff's Office after body found

Human Remains Found Inside Vehicle in New Mexico

 

[borndem]

Well, that's a big, big "Oops," isn't it? They couldn't open the vehicle without probable cause? When it had an odor? (Maybe that's so -- IANAL).
Somebody's azz is gonna be in somebody's briefcase for this...
How awful for the family of the victim.

 

[TGIRecovered]

I wonder if they even ran the plates. Nah, what am I saying? That would take an honest effort to do their job!

If "Girl who left the car there says she has a dead body in it" plus
" car smells like death" plus "property owner wants car removed" isn't enough for a judge to authorize a search warrant I don't know what is.

Ducking the press for a week after a flub liks this is not a good look for a sheriff. I hope an ouside agency will investigate! MOO

 

[Laughing]

If this was a movie, we would laugh -- but this is real!

So much wrong here....

 

[borndem]

I wonder if they even ran the plates. Nah, what am I saying? That would take an honest effort to do their job!

If "Girl who left the car there says she has a dead body in it" plus
" car smells like death" plus "property owner wants car removed" isn't enough for a judge to authorize a search warrant I don't know what is.

Ducking the press for a week after a flub liks this is not a good look for a sheriff. I hope an ouside agency will investigate! MOO

Good idea. Plus -- Assuming the Sheriff position in this county has to run for office... Vote him out...

Something is hinky here, folks. SMH. WTH?

 

[SunSun]

This article jumps all around the timeline, so I tried to straighten it out and shed some light on the rest of this ugly situation. I still cannot see how law enforcement could say that there was 'not enough evidence' to search inside the vehicle.

Neighbors of man found dead in his car in Chaparral accused in murder

The remains found in the vehicle were identified as belonging to Rodolfo Fuentes, 37. Fuentes' girlfriend told detectives that Fuentes would stay in his Chevrolet Trailblazer and would park in front of her apartment.

Jevare Stephawn Freeman-Handy, 35, and Sunshine Urbina, 34, lived at the same apartments. Fuentes' girlfriend told investigators that she saw Freeman-Handy very upset because he believed that Fuentes had left with Urbina.

Urbina told El Paso detectives that she was assaulted by Freeman-Handy and then Freeman-Handy went to the Trailblazer where Fuentes was and assaulted him to the point of incapacitation, and placed him back in the vehicle. She said Freeman-Handy got her from her apartment in to the vehicle and, in a more secluded part of the complex, beat Fuentes more and then strangled him.

Urbina said she was told by Freeman-Handy to drive around El Paso with Fuentes' body and she did for one and a half to two days before they got to mobile home park in Chaparral, NM.

On November 20, a Chaparral resident called deputies to report that the couple had told them they had killed Fuentes and his body was hidden in his Chevrolet Trailblazer.

The resident told investigators when the couple told them their story, the resident asked the two to go get beer and lent them their pickup truck to go to the store. The resident then called authorities to report the alleged murder.

Deputies with the County's Sheriff's Office spotted the two in the resident's pickup truck and conducted a traffic stop. A deputy spoke with Freeman-Handy and Urbina and then let them go on their way since they said there was not enough evidence to search the Chevrolet Trailblazer at the caller's home.

Later, Freeman-Handy, who was in custody for an unrelated charge, was interviewed by El Paso police detectives about Fuentes' death. Freeman-Handy claimed Fuentes let him borrow the Chevrolet Trailblazer. He told detectives there was blood in the vehicle and that he did drive it to Chaparral, but denied that Fuentes' body was in the vehicle when he used it.

Freeman-Handy was booked for the murder of Fuentes.

 

[SunSun]

Jevare Stephawn Freeman-Handy's bond was set at 2 million dollars.

According to the El Paso Times, Freeman-Handy was arrested in 2018, accused of attacking people at a Whataburger in a bizarre incident aired on "Live PD." He was half-naked behind the grill in the restaurant when an El Paso police officer shocked him with a Taser.

He was also wanted on a parole violation in connection to an attempted murder conviction in 2011.

Man in El Paso jail rebooked on murder; previously caught in bizarre Whataburger incident on ‘Live PD’