Human bones found in Dulce

By Andres Valle

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    DULCE, New Mexico (KOAT) — It’s a cold case that spans more than two decades; a Jicarilla Apache Nation woman went missing in 2001.

Nearly 20 years later, skeletal remains were discovered near Dulce in northern New Mexico.

“Melissa Montoya is from Dulce, New Mexico. She was 42 years old when she went missing. She went to a party on St. Patrick’s Day in 2001 at the Jicarilla Apache House of Spirits. And she was never seen again after that night,” said Darlene Gomez, the attorney for the family.

KOAT traveled to Dulce to meet with her family. Walking us down the road Melissa lived on.

“It’s sad because we use this road so much it’s just kind of like a constant reminder of someone who was lost and forgotten,” said Melody Gomez, a cousin of Montoya.

Melody was only a teenager when Melissa went missing in 2001, and saw her just before she disappeared.

She said that Melissa broke up with her boyfriend just days before she disappeared. The family believes he may have been abusive.

“It was the St. Patrick’s Day dance. And I remember they hadn’t opened the dance up to the public yet. And so she stopped to visit with me. And we talked for probably a good hour and a half before she left to go to the dance. So I was one of the last people to speak with her,” Melody said.

Darlene Gomez has been working on the case for 23 years and may have recently found a clue about where Melissa might be.

“I received an email from a woman who was looking for her loved one who went missing from California. So she came across the NamUs record stating that bones and a skull had been found in Dulcie, New Mexico. And they were a female that was between 30 and 60 years of age and Native American. And so she did her own research. And she found that there was only three women missing from the area, and Melissa Montoya was one of them,” Darlene Gomez said.

Those bones were entered into a database, discovered in 2020.

Darlene is now fighting to get those remains tested to see if it could be Melissa.

“The Office of the medical investigator did tell me that there are no funds available to test these bones,” Darlene Gomez said.

So she reached out to the Jicarilla Apache Police Department to actively work the case. Claiming that investigators are now reaching out to family members for DNA testing.

“It was really hard when my grandmother was alive. She would say quite often that she hoped that Melissa would be found, you know, that Lisa, something would come of her disappearance before she passed away. And it was sad that when my grandmother died, she didn’t know what happened to Lisa,” Melody Gomez said.

While the family doesn’t know exactly what happened to Melissa, they suspect her ex-boyfriend might have had some details.

“Maybe three or four months after she went missing. I believe he committed suicide. So I believe that his body was found just, you know, a couple of miles down the road into Colorado, at the ranch home that they shared together,” Melody Gomez said.

The family told KOAT that the ranch he lived on with Melissa was set on fire a few days later.

“I saw the flames. When I was getting closer, I rolled down the window to try to see more and the heat was so extensive that you couldn’t even really roll down your window,” Melody Gomez said.

Back in Albuquerque, Darlene Gomez is hoping she can finally have answers for the family.

“It’ll be three years ago that my mom passed away, and she had dementia. And she kept asking me about Melissa. ‘Que Paso?’ Where is she? And so I kind of felt like maybe she had this premonition that if I worked on MMIW more and kept Melissa’s name in the media that, you know, she would be found, or we would get answers,” Darlene Gomez said.

Melody Gomez walked KOAT to the area where Melissa grew up, reflecting on the life her cousin could have had.

“That person was someone. Loved by someone. Loved by family. We don’t know the circumstances of whoever remains those are, but hopefully, it’ll bring closure and maybe even justice for someone who was lost,” Melody Gomez said.

KOAT reached out to the Jicarilla Apache Police Department about the case. They said they did not have a comment on the investigation. There is no word if the bones have been tested to see if they belong to Melissa Montoya.

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