First suspect sentenced in murders, burnings of bodies in southern Colorado

The first of four men who are charged in the grisly murders of five people in southern Colorado was sentenced to prison last week. 

CJ Dominguez, 22, pleaded guilty in December to a single felony count of Tampering with a Deceased Human Body. He was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections. 

The bodies of the five victims were found in "burn pits" on two separate rural properties east of Sanford in Conejos County. 

The disturbing murders took place over a month and involved a small-town gang run by vicious leader who apparently gained the unquestioning loyalty of other members. 

Adre Baroz, 28, was known among the group as "Psycho." His criminal history includes previous stints in the DOC and assaults against police officers. 

Now he is now charged as the killer in the five murders.

Nineteen-year-old Selena Esquibel was the first victim. She was last heard from Aug. 31, 2020, a Sunday. 

A person identified as a confidential police informant told investigators he witnessed Baroz hit Esquibel in the head with a handgun while in his apartment on 6th Street in Alamosa that day. Baroz and the informant then drove Esquibel to a two-acre rural property about 20 miles south of Alamosa, 19086 County Road 27, located between Sanford and the community of Lasauses (which is shown on maps as Los Sauces). It was the home of 40-year-old Francisco Ramirez, also known to his crew as "Ponch." 

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Once there, Baroz walked Esquibel to a pit that had been dug behind a gray garage. The informant told investigators that Baros then shot the woman and she fell into the pit.  

Sometime later, her body was burned and covered with the use a stolen tractor to fill in the hole.  

Baroz believed, according to the informant, that Esquibel was "going around saying Psycho raped her."  

The man who allegedly stole the tractor and filled in the hole was 26-year-old Xavier Zeven Garcia, according to the informant. 

Garcia was reported missing by his mother after he took a friend's pickup truck on Oct. 17 to reportedly collect $2,500 from Baroz. His mother told investigators that Garcia left at 2 a.m.

Through forensic phone records, investigators determined Garcia's phone last pinged to Ramirez's property an hour later.

At least three witnesses later described seeing a man matching Garcia's description drive up to the residence and getting out of a pickup truck. One of them said he saw Baroz then shoot the man in the chest and head.   

The pickup truck was later found partially buried less than a mile and a half away, on a property at 18201 County Road 28 that was known as Baroz's rural residence. 

The case documents do not indicate that Garcia's remains have been found.

Myron Martinez went to the Alamosa apartment of Adre Baroz to purchase drugs on Oct. 27, 2020. 

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Baroz allegedly stabbed and shot Martinez as Martinez's girlfriend, Shayla Hammel, waited in a car outside the apartment. A member of the gang who witnessed the murder later told investigators that Baroz handed a gun to his brother, Julius "Gato" Baroz, and instructed "Gato" to take care of the woman, as stated in the affidavits.

The witness told investigators that he found Julius Baroz in the parking lot. Julius Baroz was crying and told the witness "that he can't believe that Pyscho put them in that position again." 

Recently-sentenced Dominguez was called to the apartment by Adre Baroz. He dismembered Martinez's body, put it in plastic tubs, and days later transported to the Ramirez property, according to the affidavits.  

Meanwhile, the woman waiting in the car, Hammel, was driven by the witness from Adre Baroz's apartment to Adre Baroz's rural property. There, Adre Baroz asked the witness to kill Hammel. The witness refused and left. 

Armed with witness accounts, authorities executed a search warrants at the two properties in mid-November.

Hammel's burned remains were found at Baroz's property. She was identified through dental records that matched teeth found in the burn pit.  

Meanwhile, Martinez's remains, also identified by dental records, were found in one of two burn pits at the Ramirez property along with those of Esquibel and another woman, 32-year-old Korina Arroyo. Arroyo had been scheduled to testify in a drug-related trial weeks before she was reported missing in Monte Vista.

The Alamosa Police Department took the lead in the investigation and filed arrest warrants the same day the burn pits were searched.

Days later, a woman spoke with an Alamosa detective and provided chilling details. The woman claimed to be a friend of Ramirez. The woman claimed she and Ramirez rode together to Arizona and back overnight, planting a getaway vehicle at a gas station which Ramirez and Baroz would use to leave Colorado "and start a new life together."

According to the woman's account in the affidavit, Ramirez recounted Baroz's murder of two women, one who had accused "Psycho" of raping her and the second "a snitch." Ramirez admitted to helping Baroz dispose of the bodies. Burning them took three days, he told her.

Ramirez also told her that he, Baroz, and two other people ate portions of the bodies' burned flesh. That detail, however, has not been corroborated by any other evidence or witness accounts provided in the affidavits.     

Also, as they drove, Ramirez also told the woman "that he had Psycho's back," and that "if Psycho decided to go suicide by cop, (Ramirez) was going to be right there with Psycho."

Investigators also uncovered details of a phone conversation in which recently-sentenced Dominguez said "he loved Psycho and went onto (sic) explain he would do anything for Psycho," the affidavits state.  

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Law enforcement found Baroz in Gallup, New Mexico on Nov. 19, 2020, two days after a manhunt was launched. He was found with five firearms.  

With the conclusion of Dominguez's case, Alamosa County prosecutors now look toward the cases against Adre Baroz, Julius Baroz, and Ramirez. Adre Baroz faces five counts of 1st Degree Murder, five counts of Tampering w/ a Deceased Body, and other charges related to kidnapping, assault, and weapons violations. Julius Baroz, Adre's brother, faces one count each of 1st Degree Murder and Tampering. Ramirez is charged with three counts of Tampering and Accessory to a Crime. All the charges are felonies. The next hearings for all three are scheduled for the same day, March 30.