Española City Police are investigating the death of a woman found on May 31 behind the strip mall on North Railroad Avenue.
An unidentified man called 911 at 6:36 p.m. to report that he found Monica Carter, 43, dead behind the strip mall, on the foot trails. He told a dispatcher that he usually takes her and her boyfriend to church every Saturday and they live in a tent back there. He said the tent was there but the boyfriend was not. It appeared that she had been dead since that morning, the man said.
EPD Officer J. Quintana arrived on scene at 6:43 p.m. and spoke with the man who told him that he befriended Carter and her husband when he met them at a rehab center and convinced them to start attending church with him, Quintana’s incident report said. It’s unclear if the two were married, as the unidentified man is referred to as Carter’s boyfriend and husband.
“(Man) advised me that this relationship began about a year ago,” Quintana wrote. “(Man) advised me since then, he would drive to 1227 North Railroad behind the strip mall and pick both of them up in her (sic) personal vehicle and drive them to their methadone appointments and church services on Sunday.”
The man told Quintana that he arrived at 6:30 p.m. to take them to church and began walking toward the tent, when he found Carter lying on her back with blood coming out of her mouth and nose. When the officer got there, the man took him to where Carter was.
“As I came upon Ms. Carter’s body, I noticed she was laying flat on her back,” Quintana wrote.
The next three sentences of the report are redacted.
“… the white in color pillow case off of her head and viewed blood dripping out of Ms. Carters (redacted). I also viewed Ms. Carters eyes that appeared to be completely black,” Quintana wrote.
He noted that she also had a small hole on the right-hand side of her stomach, which was also bleeding.
“I was unable to confirm if it was a cut or a bullet hole from Ms. Carters stomach,” Quintana wrote.
The officer asked the man who found Carter about his relationship with her. He said that she and her husband were always together and they did everything together.
“I thought this was suspicious due to (redacted) being absent during this time and no where to be found,” Quintana wrote.
An employee with the Office of the Medical Investigator arrived at 11:04 p.m. and announced the time of death at 11:07 p.m. Rivera Funeral Home was called and picked up Carter’s body.