Speaker 1: A young woman's body was discarded in the desert.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's sick. That is definitely sick.
Speaker 1: Who was responsible?
Speaker 2: Everyone where Yolanda worked out, We're scared for their lives also.
Speaker 1: And why were the police the ones being questioned?
Speaker 3: I mean, what exactly is going on here?
Speaker 1: In this podcast, we take you across the country to
Speaker 1: investigate some of America's deadliest crimes. We'll explore how these
Speaker 1: murders are shaped by their unique landscapes, and in turn,
Speaker 1: how these tragedies have shaped the fabric of these American
Speaker 1: communities forever. Today we're in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the
Speaker 1: story of Yolanda Medina. My name is Sloane Glass and
Speaker 1: this is American Homicide. This podcast maintains subject matters which
Speaker 1: may not be suitable for all audiences. Discretion is advised.
Speaker 1: It's a magnificent sight. The desert skies of Albuquerque turn
Speaker 1: into a kaleidoscope of color as hundreds of hot air
Speaker 1: balloons take flight during the International Balloon Fiesta. It began
Speaker 1: as a radio promotion in nineteen seventy two and turned
Speaker 1: into an annual must see each October. Tens of thousands
Speaker 1: of spectators poured into Albuquerque to see hot air balloons
Speaker 1: of every size, shape and color take flight over the
Speaker 1: Rio Grande River, and as the years have passed, the
Speaker 1: balloons have transformed into all kinds of different themes. One
Speaker 1: looks like a giant cactus, while others resemble the Witch
Speaker 1: and even a giant bottle of Scotch. On a day
Speaker 1: when everyone's eyes were on the playful sky over the river,
Speaker 1: the water was concealing a dark discovery. As the fiesta
Speaker 1: wrapt in nineteen ninety one, the many spectators made their
Speaker 1: way home, including a boy and his father.
Speaker 2: On the east side of the Roal grand River, he
Speaker 2: saw what seemed to be like the human body.
Speaker 1: Detective Tony Lopez investigated.
Speaker 2: They immediately then called nine one one and we were dispassed.
Speaker 1: Detective Lopez worked for the Bernolo Police Department, a small
Speaker 1: town about fifteen miles north of Albuquerque.
Speaker 2: Very close knit town. Population at that time back in
Speaker 2: ninety one was approximately six thousand. I hate to say this,
Speaker 2: but they didn't like outsiders. At the time that I
Speaker 2: got hired with the towner ber Leo, there was three
Speaker 2: of us that were outsiders. The chief police, my captain,
Speaker 2: which was Greg Marcintell and myself. We didn't live in
Speaker 2: the towner bur Leos, who were considered outsiders. They want
Speaker 2: to keep everything within and keep outsiders out.
Speaker 1: Berne Leo was a quiet town, so hearing about a
Speaker 1: body washing up along the river was terrifying.
Speaker 2: Bertilio was not a dangerous place. They weren't used to that.
Speaker 1: Detective Lobez headed to a place people in the southwest
Speaker 1: call and arroyo, which means an irrigation ditch.
Speaker 2: I arrived and it was late at night. It was
Speaker 2: already getting dark. I grabbed my camera and walked down
Speaker 2: this ditch bank about two hundred yards where this tree was,
Speaker 2: and saw what appeared to be a female. She was
Speaker 2: stuck under some branches, which indicated to me that she
Speaker 2: had been hidden there. I also noticed that there was
Speaker 2: maggots coming out of every office of her body. Then
Speaker 2: I knew she had been there for a few days.
Speaker 1: The young woman appeared to be Hispanic. She had a
Speaker 1: dark complexion and very long brown hair. Her body was
Speaker 1: found naked with bruises on her face and chest, which
Speaker 1: made it difficult to identify her.
Speaker 2: The body was finally placed in a body bag and
Speaker 2: transported to Albuquerque to the corner's office a.
Speaker 1: Few yards away. Officers noticed drag marks along the ditch,
Speaker 1: but there.
Speaker 2: Was no physical evidence around the body.
Speaker 1: Its own, so, as you can imagine, it was an
Speaker 1: awful scene for officers who were trying to make sense
Speaker 1: of what happened. And then they got word about a
Speaker 1: young woman who was reported missing four days earlier.
Speaker 2: A missing person's case had been filed in Albuquerque. After
Speaker 2: the autopsy, we knew that this female was the same
Speaker 2: female that was missing out of Albuquerque.
Speaker 1: It took dental records to confirm the body was Yolanda Medina,
Speaker 1: a twenty year old college student who worked and went
Speaker 1: to school in downtown Albuquerque, but lived with her parents
Speaker 1: in Bernolio. She was a child when her parents left
Speaker 1: the Mexican town of Vera Cruz in pursuit of the
Speaker 1: American dream.
Speaker 2: Beautiful family, the whole entire family.
Speaker 1: Yolanda was one of six. They warm and friendly, smile.
Speaker 1: It was always easy for her to make friends.
Speaker 2: She was just a very outgoing young lady that had
Speaker 2: such a future ahead of her.
Speaker 1: Even while taking college classes, Yolanda proudly wore her high
Speaker 1: school class ring with her name engraved on it. Her
Speaker 1: dream was to become a flight attendant, job her friends
Speaker 1: thought she was perfect for.
Speaker 2: They were all telling us that all lovable Yolanda was
Speaker 2: in caring.
Speaker 1: The last time anyone saw Yolanda live was on the
Speaker 1: eve of her birthday. She was about to turn twenty one.
Speaker 2: Yolanda was working at this travel agency in Albuquerque, and
Speaker 2: on Columbus Day, there was a couple that had gone
Speaker 2: to her work and weren't looking for directions for a bank.
Speaker 2: Yolanda had explained to them that there was no banks
Speaker 2: opened that day.
Speaker 1: The couple said they were college students from Veracruz, Mexico,
Speaker 1: which happened to be where Yolanda was born.
Speaker 2: The couple a male and a female, being Mexican nationals,
Speaker 2: and Yolanda having been a Mexican herself. There was a
Speaker 2: connection there one they with Mexican nationals, especially being an
Speaker 2: estrange country, they want to help each other, give each
Speaker 2: other direction on anything that they need, and that's what
Speaker 2: Yolanda Medina was doing.
Speaker 1: The three of them made small talk and just before
Speaker 1: Yolanda walked into work, the couple extended an invitation.
Speaker 2: The couple felt that Yolanda was so kind with them
Speaker 2: that they invited her for lunch on the following day
Speaker 2: and said, you know, since you were so nice to us,
Speaker 2: we want to make you lunch tomorrow. We'd come pick
Speaker 2: you up. And that evening she was having dinner with
Speaker 2: her parents and she stated to her mom, I met
Speaker 2: this couple. They're from Vina Krunz. They want to take
Speaker 2: me to lunch tomorrow. I don't know what to do.
Speaker 2: I feel kind of nervous about it.
Speaker 1: Yolanda accepted their invitation. The couple was friendly, they were
Speaker 1: all a similar age and they shared a hometown.
Speaker 2: Parents told her that if they were very nice to
Speaker 2: her and that she should.
Speaker 1: Accept, and so the next day, the couple from Vera
Speaker 1: Cruz returned to the travel agency and around noon the
Speaker 1: three left for lunch.
Speaker 2: According to witnesses, a couple came in, picked her up
Speaker 2: and she never returned back to work.
Speaker 1: Four days later, Yolanda's Bonnie turned up in a ditch.
Speaker 2: The circumstances of this whole case of an un couple
Speaker 2: coming in and had taking her to lunch never returning
Speaker 2: back was very suspicious.
Speaker 1: The couple was the last to see Yolanda alive, so
Speaker 1: the first order of business was to find that.
Speaker 2: One of the witnesses, who was also an employee at
Speaker 2: where Yolanda worked, they give a description of the male
Speaker 2: and the female. We put those sketches on television and
Speaker 2: we started asking the public for help.
Speaker 1: By then, the disturbing details of Yolanda's death had already
Speaker 1: spread throughout the town. The pathologists determined that Yolanda was
Speaker 1: beaten and sexually assaulted, but ultimately died after choking on
Speaker 1: a rag.
Speaker 2: There was a red chop rag which they put in
Speaker 2: her mouth, and as Yolana Medina was fighting for her
Speaker 2: life with all she had and trying to breathe, that
Speaker 2: rag ended up killing her. And that's what exphyiciator.
Speaker 1: The rag was found launched in her throat. Can you imagine.
Speaker 2: I've never forgotten that, never will. I mean, the town
Speaker 2: was scared, didn't know if there was a killer or
Speaker 2: killers on the loose. It wasn't something that occurred every day.
Speaker 2: Everyone where Yolanda worked out were scared for their lives. Also,
Speaker 2: they didn't know if she was targeted or it was
Speaker 2: just just a thing that happened.
Speaker 1: For a small police department in the suburbs of Albuquerque,
Speaker 1: the case took precedence. For Detective Tony Lopez. It became personal.
Speaker 2: It was my first homicide, and being that it was
Speaker 2: a very young girl, my goal was I was not
Speaker 2: going to stop till I caught the people who were
Speaker 2: responsible for this. So when I hit it, I hit it.
Speaker 2: I wanted to make sure that I got closure for
Speaker 2: the family. I knew it was not going to bring
Speaker 2: Yolanda Medina back to them, but we were going to
Speaker 2: find out who did it, and we were going to
Speaker 2: catch them and they were going to pay for it.
Speaker 1: Detective Lopez was determined to solve this crime, which makes
Speaker 1: it all the more mind boggling that by the end
Speaker 1: of the investigation, Lopez himself would be a suspect. On
Speaker 1: the eve of her twenty first birthday, Yolanda Medina left
Speaker 1: her office in busy downtown Albuquerque for lunch but never returned.
Speaker 1: Four days later, her Bonnie turned up in a ditch
Speaker 1: some fifteen miles north in Bernaleo, New Mexico.
Speaker 2: That was the last time I got a full day's sleep.
Speaker 1: It was the first homicide Detective Tony Lope has ever
Speaker 1: investigated for the Bernaleo Police Department.
Speaker 2: I basically went home for an hour a day, just
Speaker 2: to go shower, put on some clean clothes, and I
Speaker 2: was back at it. I was going to do everything
Speaker 2: I could in my power to make sure that we
Speaker 2: brought justice.
Speaker 1: Yolanda was last seen leaving her office with a couple
Speaker 1: she had just met. Now police needed to find them.
Speaker 2: A tip came up of an individual who had stated
Speaker 2: to us that he had picked up a couple walking
Speaker 2: from Berno Leo towards Albuquerque and had given him a
Speaker 2: ride to a church in Albuquerue.
Speaker 1: Not only did the couple fit the description of the
Speaker 1: sketch the police had, but they told the guy who
Speaker 1: picked them up they were college students from Vera, Cruz
Speaker 1: who had been robbed and needed a place to stay.
Speaker 2: One thing with Mexican nationals, they look for churches for immunity.
Speaker 1: Back in nineteen ninety one and even today, most churches
Speaker 1: in Albuquerque offer sanctuary to migrants.
Speaker 2: So they referred this couple to another church where they
Speaker 2: might be able to stay and would get help. I
Speaker 2: went to the church, talked to that pastor to try
Speaker 2: to find out if he knew anything about a couple
Speaker 2: that were staying there.
Speaker 1: The pastor took one look at the sketch and knew
Speaker 1: exactly who this couple was.
Speaker 2: Mario Torres and Catalina Tarin. They were staying in a
Speaker 2: basement at this church.
Speaker 1: Now stick with me here, because there are a few reasons.
Speaker 1: Out of all the people who have gone through his church,
Speaker 1: this pastor remembered the couple for starters, They had conflicting
Speaker 1: stories on whether they were married. It was clear that
Speaker 1: they were trying to change their identity, and there was more.
Speaker 2: He had scratches on his face.
Speaker 1: So we have Mario, whose facebooks very suspicious since it's
Speaker 1: covered in scratches, and then we have this partner, Catalina,
Speaker 1: who's also raising eyebrows because she's just started wearing colored contacts.
Speaker 2: They wanted to get some IDs since they were here
Speaker 2: illegally in the United States. So the word got around
Speaker 2: that this couple needed help. I discovered from this pastor
Speaker 2: that there was a lady who had been helping them.
Speaker 1: So the priest directs Detective Lopez to a woman named
Speaker 1: Tina Unali, who readily told detectives she helped Mario and
Speaker 1: Catalina get fake identification cards. She wanted to help. She's
Speaker 1: stopped by the couple's room at the church, but after
Speaker 1: having a glass of water, she felt something was wrong.
Speaker 2: They wanted her to drink this glass of water, and
Speaker 2: tenaian Nelli's telling him she didn't want any water.
Speaker 1: She was on Thursday, but they were pushy and Tina
Speaker 1: eventually took a set. She said the water was warm
Speaker 1: and tasted.
Speaker 2: Weird, and they're still trying to convince her to drink
Speaker 2: this water.
Speaker 1: Katalina left the room and closed the door behind her.
Speaker 1: This left Tina alone with Mario.
Speaker 2: Mario Torres then starts putting moves on Tenaianelli, coming onto her,
Speaker 2: tries to hug her and tries to kiss her. Chenaian
Speaker 2: Elli then cusses hit him in Spanish. She goes, I'm married,
Speaker 2: and he says I'm married too.
Speaker 1: And in the basement of the church, Mario suggested a
Speaker 1: wife swap.
Speaker 2: She told him, well, you better back away because if
Speaker 2: you don't, I'm going to kick your ass. She's a
Speaker 2: a Spanic woman loves to be around motorcycles, so she's
Speaker 2: been around tough guys and she's a tough girl.
Speaker 1: Thankfully, Tina was able to escape Mario. Her instincts were right.
Speaker 1: On police believe that weird tasting water was drugged and
Speaker 1: the couple had intended to sexually assault her.
Speaker 2: She felt so blessed and lucky to get away and
Speaker 2: I'll become a victim.
Speaker 1: Tina's escape happened only a few days before Yolando Medina
Speaker 1: went missing. Up being the urgency for detectives to find
Speaker 1: this couple. They were clever and dangerous. Detective Lopez knew
Speaker 1: it wasn't going to be easy to catch them.
Speaker 2: I part across the street from this church, and I
Speaker 2: saw a vehicle with sped a couple in the vehicle
Speaker 2: leaving with a priest, and I saw that the priest
Speaker 2: had pulled over about a quarter mile away at a
Speaker 2: video store. The couple got out stood in front of
Speaker 2: that VIGI store for a little while, and as I'm
Speaker 2: doing surveillance, they're walking right in front of my vehicle.
Speaker 1: Now standing with a priest just a few feet away.
Speaker 2: For Mario and Catalina, same picture from the sketch that
Speaker 2: we had, I mean identical. So I immediately approached them
Speaker 2: and asked them for their names. The male told me
Speaker 2: that his name was Mario Torres and the lady was
Speaker 2: Catalina Tarin the male was trying to be very cooperative,
Speaker 2: and the lady had a very mean look, giving me
Speaker 2: dirty looks, mumbling to the gentleman. She didn't look happy
Speaker 2: at all.
Speaker 1: The couple had fraudulent social Security cards, so Detective Lopez
Speaker 1: called for ions.
Speaker 2: Irons took detention of them, which at that time, it
Speaker 2: allowed us to obtain a search. Weren't for the room
Speaker 2: that they were living in there at the church.
Speaker 1: During their search of the couple's room, detectives were they
Speaker 1: were actually shocked by what they found.
Speaker 2: During our search. Weren't. We discovered a class room with
Speaker 2: Yolanda's name engraved on the inside. The jacket that she
Speaker 2: was least seen in was also discovered in that room.
Speaker 1: Police also found fake IDs, and then there was this
Speaker 1: a gold necklace and bracelet that belonged to Yolanda. Suddenly,
Speaker 1: all the missing pieces of the puzzle came together for detectives.
Speaker 2: At that time, when we had this evidence against this couple,
Speaker 2: I mean, you would think there would be some excitement,
Speaker 2: but there really wasn't because it was far from over.
Speaker 1: At this point, the District Attorney's office entered the investigation
Speaker 1: and the church where all of this happened was very
Speaker 1: familiar to Deputy DA Michael Cox.
Speaker 4: Oddly enough, if I looked out my way, no I
Speaker 4: could see the church, so it probably happened across the street.
Speaker 3: From where I was.
Speaker 1: This church was actually across the street from the District
Speaker 1: Attorney's office.
Speaker 4: That was the place that they had been offered as
Speaker 4: a sanctuary. That's where we believe the crime was committed.
Speaker 4: This was a tough case for a defense attorney. There
Speaker 4: was a lot of evidence. There was blood, there was
Speaker 4: a drag mark that appeared to be a body that
Speaker 4: had been pushed or moved.
Speaker 1: They also found the most damning evidence, and it's the
Speaker 1: most disturbing, a piece of the rag that was found
Speaker 1: inside of Hulanga's throat.
Speaker 4: Well, the rag was actually used to help kill her.
Speaker 4: She was partially asphyxiated with a rag torn red shop rag,
Speaker 4: and a piece in her throat was matched to the
Speaker 4: piece that was found in the church basement.
Speaker 1: The most unholy act happening in such a secret place.
Speaker 4: I was troubled by the fact that the used churches.
Speaker 4: That seemed to me to be one of the worst things.
Speaker 4: That they killed her in a church where they were
Speaker 4: given sanctuary and used it for not just kill her,
Speaker 4: but try to kidnap and rape another woman. And then
Speaker 4: they went from there and took all of the stuff
Speaker 4: they got from the crimes and went to another church
Speaker 4: that was giving them sanctuary.
Speaker 1: It was a behavior the deputy district attorney had never
Speaker 1: seen before.
Speaker 4: They prayed on people who were helping them, and that
Speaker 4: seemed particularly evil. Frankly, because every one of the victims,
Speaker 4: especially the women, the one who was killed and the
Speaker 4: one who escaped became victims because they were trying to
Speaker 4: help these two people. That seemed particularly awful to me.
Speaker 1: Mario and Catalina were deadly con artists. They were dangerous people.
Speaker 4: I think the pair of them were so deadly because
Speaker 4: no one expected them.
Speaker 1: Police finally made an arrest. Mario and Catalina were charged
Speaker 1: with first degree murder along with the sexual assault and
Speaker 1: kidnapping of Yolanda Mendina. Despite the evidence, prosecutors were facing
Speaker 1: an uphill battle. Bernolino police arrested Mario Torres and Catalina
Speaker 1: Tarene for the murder of Yolanda Medina. If convicted, the
Speaker 1: couple faced the death penalty.
Speaker 3: In nineteen ninety one, in New Mexico prosecutors were asking
Speaker 3: for the death penalty, particularly in cases that involved any
Speaker 3: kind of kidnapping or rape.
Speaker 1: Attorney Gary Mitchell was assigned to represent Catalina Taurine.
Speaker 3: I found it very pleasant, very nice, very meek. This
Speaker 3: is not somebody that I would ever envision doing harm
Speaker 3: to anybody. She was not the person in my mind
Speaker 3: that would have been.
Speaker 2: The leader of that.
Speaker 1: Not only that, but he also felt the case against
Speaker 1: his client was entirely circumstantial. I guess it never occurred
Speaker 1: to him that all that charm came from a psychopath.
Speaker 3: They turned into a homicide case after they said, well
Speaker 3: wait a second, Miss Medina mentions they're going out with
Speaker 3: these people TODA and track that and follow that up,
Speaker 3: and then she never comes back and the last people
Speaker 3: she supposed you with are in jail. And let's see
Speaker 3: if we can tie all this stuff together, and some
Speaker 3: of these detectives tie this stuff together. I mean, I
Speaker 3: know these guys have great respect for him, but I
Speaker 3: thought this was pretty flimsy. Actually, it seemed to me
Speaker 3: that we were jumping to some pretty good conclusions. I mean,
Speaker 3: if I wanted to kill somebody, who am I going
Speaker 3: to blame it on the easiest people I can point
Speaker 3: to is immigrants are people that can't fight back.
Speaker 1: Catalina and Mario's trial was set to begin in mid
Speaker 1: May of nineteen ninety two, but on the morning of
Speaker 1: Sinco de Mayo, Catalina's lawyer received some shocking news.
Speaker 3: I get a call informing me that my client was deceased.
Speaker 3: Both of them committed suicide on the same night in
Speaker 3: the same manner at the detention center in Bernlihoa County.
Speaker 3: I mean, what exactly is going on here?
Speaker 1: Heard that right? Mario and Kadalina overdosed on their antidepressant
Speaker 1: medication on the same day, despite being in solitary confinement
Speaker 1: on two different floors. How does that even happen? Well,
Speaker 1: law enforcement speculates the two may have passed notes to.
Speaker 3: Each other they said up all their medications, watted up
Speaker 3: and kept them in a ball or whatever, and then
Speaker 3: took them all at one time. I mean, it had
Speaker 3: to be a big ball, bigger than a golf ball
Speaker 3: of medications that they took. You know, they never took
Speaker 3: them all those weeks, and we're being prescribed these medications
Speaker 3: that's what they died from. Wow, what is going on here.
Speaker 3: This is not what I thought when I first got
Speaker 3: this case. And sure enough, when she'd made a suicide,
Speaker 3: that pretty well in my mind said, yeah, she's under
Speaker 3: the power of somebody else. She took her own life
Speaker 3: because this guy told her to, and that sort of
Speaker 3: sums up this case.
Speaker 5: Obviously, it's a big story that the Medina suspects had
Speaker 5: taken their own lives.
Speaker 1: Cecilia Nimchek was the assistant district attorney, and this is
Speaker 1: where the story takes another turn. Mario left behind two
Speaker 1: handwritten suicide notes, and those notes left more questions than answers.
Speaker 5: Very lengthy, very long, written by him, denying that they
Speaker 5: had committed the murders, saying that somebody else had done it.
Speaker 1: In these letters, Mario claimed he and Catalina could no
Speaker 1: longer take the mistreatment in solitary confinement because, according to Mario,
Speaker 1: he and Catalina were innocent of Yolana Medina's murder, but.
Speaker 5: Was a denial of killing Yolando Medina, but admitting to
Speaker 5: killing two other women in Mexico, so that was very unusual.
Speaker 1: Mario claimed he did murder two women in Mexico, and
Speaker 1: in chilling detail, outlined who they were and how he
Speaker 1: did it.
Speaker 5: It was his lover that was the victim. She was
Speaker 5: angry because she found out that he was married, and
Speaker 5: he had no choice but to shut her up by
Speaker 5: strangling her. And then, sadly, another woman walked by and
Speaker 5: witnessed this, and he had no choice but to strangle
Speaker 5: her because she would tell.
Speaker 1: So police immediately contacted the authorities in Mexico, who confirmed
Speaker 1: these murders had taken place and they had a suspect
Speaker 1: in custody, Mario's brother.
Speaker 5: His brother was arrested in Mexico for these murders. Some
Speaker 5: people could say he didn't do this and the only
Speaker 5: reason he was confessing to those two homicides was to
Speaker 5: get his brother off.
Speaker 3: I didn't put a lot of faith or married into
Speaker 3: the letter that he wrote. I just figured for another
Speaker 3: part of whatever manipulation was taking.
Speaker 1: Place, and neither did the Mexican police. There was no
Speaker 1: evidence the Mexican police ever took Mario's confession seriously. And
Speaker 1: in these long and sometimes rambling letters, Mario claimed he
Speaker 1: used a fake name while he was in the United States,
Speaker 1: and then there was this bombshell. Mario claimed he and
Speaker 1: Catalina were set up by the police, and that the
Speaker 1: police were actually responsible for the murders.
Speaker 5: You know, that would maybe cause you pause to think
Speaker 5: whether or not they really did this. But when you
Speaker 5: have all of the physical evidence that was connected with
Speaker 5: Yolanda Medina found in the places that they had stayed,
Speaker 5: and then on top of it, rereading the long letter,
Speaker 5: there's some huge holes in that because he's going through
Speaker 5: the timeline of how they came to Albuquerque. Says that
Speaker 5: as soon as he got off the bus to detectives,
Speaker 5: two police officers interviewed him and accused him of killing
Speaker 5: this woman.
Speaker 1: Now that would have been five to six weeks before
Speaker 1: Yolanda's murder occurred, making his story hard to believe. Still,
Speaker 1: determined to find the truth, police investigated two of their own.
Speaker 2: In this letter, he blamed Captain Greg Marcintell and myself.
Speaker 1: Detective Tony Lopez worth the case with his boss, Greg Marcintell.
Speaker 2: Greg Marcintell and myself did not commit that murder.
Speaker 1: Captain Greg Marcintell also denied the allegations, and eventually he
Speaker 1: and Detective Lopez were cleared.
Speaker 2: The couple that killed Elana Medina are very evil. They
Speaker 2: never showed any remorse whatsoever, you know, blaming someone else
Speaker 2: other than themselves for sick individuals. Here you have a
Speaker 2: husband and wife raping. He was raping and she's holding
Speaker 2: them down. I mean, that's sick. That is definitely sick.
Speaker 1: Detective Tony Lopez's homicide investigation ended with the accused taking
Speaker 1: their our own lives and blaming him and his partner
Speaker 1: for the murder of Yolanda Medina.
Speaker 2: Part of me felt as if justice was done because
Speaker 2: they were leaving this earth and no one else was
Speaker 2: going to have to go through why Yolanda Medina did
Speaker 2: or what Tino Yanelli almost went through.
Speaker 1: But before Detective Lopez could turn the page and just
Speaker 1: file this away, he felt the sense of being unsettled.
Speaker 1: The two suspects were dead, but for him, it just
Speaker 1: wasn't over.
Speaker 2: I went to the autopsy of these suspects, So why go.
Speaker 1: To the autopsy?
Speaker 2: Well one enclosure, seeing two bodies that are laid blaming
Speaker 2: their lifeless, I had to say it, I'm human, But
Speaker 2: that's where I got my satisfaction because we were going
Speaker 2: for the death penalty on them that didn't.
Speaker 1: Occurred, and at that autopsy, they found one more piece
Speaker 1: of evidence, and this was kind of gross, kind of weird,
Speaker 1: but boy, it was the smoking gun.
Speaker 2: When they did perform as autopsy, they found that she
Speaker 2: was wearing contact lenses that belonged to Yolanda Medina. Those
Speaker 2: were still in her eyes. I physically remember them taking
Speaker 2: those out, and she had been wearing these since the
Speaker 2: day of the murder murder curt in October of nineteen
Speaker 2: ninety one, and they committed suicide May of nineteen ninety two,
Speaker 2: and she held on to that. Still wearing those contact
Speaker 2: lenses was just not right. That had a big impact
Speaker 2: and remained with me during my whole life. In Spanish,
Speaker 2: we have a saying that says nunca sint barrat, which
Speaker 2: indicate you never leave this life without pain. And they
Speaker 2: paid good at themselves and that's how they left.
Speaker 1: Next time on American Homicide, a mobster wanted in a
Speaker 1: triple murder engages in a game of catt review Ken
Speaker 1: and before it's over, Redden's a hit on the prosecution.
Speaker 1: Star Witness. Join us next week for the latest episode
Speaker 1: of American Homicide. You can contact the American Homicide Team
Speaker 1: by emailing us at American Homicide Pod at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: That's American Homicide Pod at gmail dot com. American Homicide
Speaker 1: is hosted and written by me Sloane Glass and is
Speaker 1: a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group,
Speaker 1: in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced
Speaker 1: by Nancy Glass and Todd Gans. The series is also
Speaker 1: written and produced by Todd Gans, with additional writing by
Speaker 1: Ben Fetterman and Andrea Gunning. Our associate producer is Kristin Mlcurry.
Speaker 1: Our iHeart team is Ali Perry and Jessica Crimecheck. Audio
Speaker 1: editing and mixing by Matt Delvecchio, additional editing support from
Speaker 1: nicar Uga, Tanner Robbins, Britt Robashow, and Patrick Walsh. American
Speaker 1: Homicides theme song was composed by Oliver Baines of Neiser
Speaker 1: Music Library, provided by my Music. Follow American Homicide on
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Speaker 1: five star review goes a long way towards helping others
Speaker 1: find this show. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.