In a surprising development nearly three decades after the tragic death of her 3-year-old daughter, a mother has been apprehended in Mexico on charges of first-degree murder. Anna Marlene Somoza, now 60, was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service after spending over 12 years as a fugitive, leveraging her links to drug cartels to evade capture, according to authorities.
Somoza is set to be extradited to the United States to answer allegations regarding the murder of her daughter, Crystal Reyes. Law enforcement states that Reyes endured severe abuse including torture and starvation prior to her death.
The young girl was reportedly confined in a small dog kennel, shackled, gagged, and left alone for extended periods. On January 30, 1997, she was reportedly bound, suffocated with a towel, and left to die in a sealed cardboard box, as stated by the agency.
Investigations into Reyes’ case began after a hunter discovered human bone fragments in a remote area of Arizona in November 1998. It took almost two decades before DNA analysis confirmed that the remains belonged to Reyes in August 2014.
After interviewing Reyes’ biological father, detectives verified her identity using his DNA. This led to charges against Somoza and her then-boyfriend Avelino Tamala for first-degree murder in December 2014.
Tamala was convicted of the murder in 2016 and sentenced to life imprisonment, while Somoza had already been deported years earlier.
Criminal Background
Somoza had an extensive criminal history prior to being implicated in her daughter’s murder. She was known to be involved with a major drug trafficking operation along the southern Arizona border throughout the late 1980s and 1990s. Following her 1993 arrest for marijuana-related offenses, she agreed to collaborate as an informant for law enforcement, which led to her meeting Tamala, a narcotics detective, resulting in an “improper romantic relationship,” according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
After the birth of Reyes in 1993, the mother and daughter lived with Tamala in Arizona, despite him not being Reyes’ father. It seems the abuse went unnoticed, largely because Reyes was not in school, as highlighted by Stacy Vaughan from the child abuse prevention organization Childhelp. Vaughan suggested that current laws requiring adults to report suspected abuse might help prevent cases like this today.
Cold Case Developments
In 1999, the year following the discovery of Reyes’ remains, Somoza and Tamala were arrested on drug charges. Somoza served eight years in federal prison before her deportation in 2008. It wasn’t until 2014, when her connection to the child’s remains was confirmed, that authorities began actively searching for her.
Investigators noted that Somoza had deliberately gone to great lengths to avoid being caught. By October 2022, an arrest warrant for her extradition to the U.S. was obtained, though they still needed to locate her.
In 2026, the search was prioritized, allowing for more resources to be allocated to the case. In early September, authorities learned that Somoza was evading capture in Cuernavaca, Mexico. She was ultimately captured on October 18 in Xochitepec, Mexico.
Extradition Process
The U.S. Marshals Service is now coordinating with the Mexican government to bring Somoza back to the U.S. Former federal prosecutor Russell Lorfing noted that they have received diplomatic assurances for the extradition. However, the physical transfer will require U.S. marshals to travel to Mexico or arrange a border handover.
Typically, extraditions take around 14 days within the U.S., but international cases can stretch on for months, or even years, if the defendant contests the charges. Somoza does have the right to challenge the extradition through a legal appeal known as an amparo, which, Lorfing explained, could delay the process significantly, potentially turning a three-month extradition into a two-year ordeal.
