Ex-Boyfriend's Phone Call Led Family To Irving Woman's Body
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - A body was found wrapped in a tarp in the Trinity River in southeast Dallas County early Sunday night. The victim has been identified as 34-year-old Maritza Panameno, who was reported missing in Irving on Friday night after not answering phone calls.
The Dallas Police Department said on Monday that Panameno's death is being investigated as a murder, which is believed to have taken place in Dallas. Authorities spent Monday talking with Panameno's family, and issued an arrest warrant for her ex-boyfriend, identified as Roger Santos Reyes.
"Friday at 10:00 p.m., that was the last time we saw her," said Joel Flores, a relative of the victim. "We have been worried because she doesn't answer the phone. She's never like that."
It was Good Friday and Panameno was attending church services with her family. The 34-year-old sent a text message to her sister that she was leaving to meet someone.
Relatives spent the weekend searching for Panameno and praying for her safety. But family members received a phone call Sunday night from Panameno's ex-boyfriend, who told the Irving woman's family that he had done something.
Family members say Reyes had previously threatened Panameno and was violent. "She said was tired of all the family violence and she wanted to start a new life with her three kids," Panameno's sister Adriana Andrade told CBS 11.
The family says ex-boyfriend told them he was calling from a Southeast Dallas bridge over the Trinity River and hung up.
They called police but headed to the area and Panameno's father found her body after praying for help.
Family and friends searched the area around Interstate-20 and Dowdy Ferry Road in Dallas. That is when they spotted something suspicious in the Trinity River. Crews from Dallas Fire-Rescue were called to the scene and retrieved the tarp-covered body.
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