TV show helps spur arrest in 1997 Arizona killing

[Omaha Steve]

Too old for LBN.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140918/us--tv_show-arizona_killing-4537aa34da.html

By FELICIA FONSECA



This Sept. 16, 2014 booking photo provided by the Cottonwwood, Ariz., Police Department shows Cecilio Cruz. Cruz, 34, has been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in the 1997 death of his ex-girlfriend and her unborn child in Cottonwood. (AP Photo/Cottonwwood Police Department)

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A television show that featured the nearly two-decade-old killing of an Arizona teenager and her unborn baby helped lead to the arrest of her ex-boyfriend, police said Wednesday.

Cecilio Cruz is charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter. Police in the city of Cottonwood, about 100 miles north of Phoenix, said Cruz fatally shot 17-year-old Marisol Gonzalez in the face on March 25, 1997.

Cruz, 34, long had been suspected in Gonzalez's death, Cottonwood police Sgt. Tod Moore said. The two dated in high school, and she found out that she was pregnant with his child after they broke up. Her body was found in an alley near her Cottonwood home the same day she was scheduled to be induced to deliver the baby boy she named Andrew, Moore said.

Moore took a keen interest in the case — the only cold case within the department. A promotion freed him up in 2008 to scour boxes of material from the case, looking for anything that police could have missed. He later responded to a request from TNT's "Cold Justice" for ideas on cases to feature on the show. The episode, titled "First Love," aired in February.

FULL story at link.

[rocktivity]

1. On at least two episodes of America's Most Wanted

Last edited Sat Aug 29, 2020, 05:40 PM - Edit history (2)

the perp was caught by someone watching the show while in jail!


rocktivity