WA WA - Anna Pelayo, 13, Pasco, 29 December 1997

[bessie]

Anna Pelayo was 13

Find A Grave

[...]
The 13-year-old's body was found dumped on Taylor Flats Road. She'd been shot.

http://www.keprtv.com/news/local/Mo...hters-cold-case-16-years-later-254827261.html

[...]
"She was seen in the early evening hours on a payphone making a call to someone to supposedly come pick her up," said Franklin County Sheriff Jim Raymond.

That was the last she was seen alive before someone shot her, and dumped her out of a car. Her killer, still out there somewhere. Leads are far and few between.

[...]
"Ultimately... That case has labored on for years, there is lots of viable suspects in that case, but over the years as time marches along, that all gets a lot cloudier," said Sheriff Raymond.

That's why now, detectives in Franklin County have decided to send the case to a special cold case detective squad in New York.

"Lots of times by doing that, when the cold case detectives have a look at those type of cases it lots of times seems more clear than it does to the people that have been investigating it over the years."
http://www.keprtv.com/news/local/Cold-Cases-Revisited--329863201.html

[...]
"How do you kill? How do you take a 13 year old and shoot her in the head and then throw her off a car and leave her out here to die alone in the snow. Who does that?" she asked.

Christina says her daughter was shy, smart, and kind.

"I miss her so much, miss her very much. She could have been something unbelievable."

It was a cold night in December when Anna went missing...just a few hours later...police came knocking with the terrible news. Franklin County Sheriffs questioned handfuls of suspects. Each lead ran cold.
http://www.keprtv.com/news/local/De...case-murders-in-the-Tri-Cities-300021851.html

The girl's mother said her daughter started associating with gangs and running away from home after they moved to Pasco from Richland last fall.

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19971230&slug=2580769

 

[sundrop]

I worked this case back in 04 and provided a report

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

 

[B in TN]

Hoping and praying for news and peace for family and loved ones.

 

[sasha17]

What a sad story.

https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/crime/article39934929.html

 

[iulia]

Franklin County officials make arrest in 28-year-old Pasco murder case using DNA analysis

PASCO, Wash. – The Franklin County Sheriff announced that they have arrested a suspect after a major development in the investigation into the 1997 murder of 13-year-old Anna Pelayo.

www.nbcrightnow.com

On July 28 around 11:30 a.m., Franklin County Sheriff’s Detectives arrested 51-year-old Jesse Lee Castillo for Pelayo’s murder.
[...]
The arrest came after “renewed and intensive investigation,” according to a news release from the Franklin County Sheriff. They said that modern DNA technology played a big role in the advancement.

 

[dotr]

July 29 2025

DNA evidence leads to arrest in Pasco 1997 cold case

An arrest has been made in a 27-year-old Franklin County cold case that left a 13-year-old girl dead, and a family searching for answers.Anna Pelayo was only 13

keprtv.com

'Investigators believe two people were responsible for her murder. Jose Luis Silvia, who was at least 28-years-old at the time, died of an overdose in 2018. The other suspect, Jesse Castillo, was 24-years-old at the time of Anna's murder. He was taken into custody on July 28 by Franklin County Sheriff's Deputies and is now being held in the Franklin County Corrections Center.

"We really don't know how many lives Anna saved, because it shifted the mindset of law enforcement to take runaway situations serious," said FCSO Cmdr. Marcus Conner.

Franklin County Sheriff's Office Commander Marcus Conner described the two men's relationship with Anna as "An unhealthy one," and said, "As you can tell by the ages, they were quite a bit older than her."