A tow truck driver’s grisly discovery along Interstate 10 in Willcox last year has prompted at least two recent search warrants as part of a homicide investigation into the death of a man reported missing in August 2019.
The moderately decomposed remains of Christopher Daniel Mendez were found Sept. 24, 2019 under the Rex Allen / Fort Grant overpass by a tow truck driver working in the area. Mendez, 33, was reported missing by his employer on Aug. 28 after he failed to report to work for three days.
On March 2, Justice of the Peace Trevor Ward signed a search warrant which allowed the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) to inspect a vehicle owned by one of Mendez’s co-workers. The vehicle had been seized under an earlier search warrant signed by Ward.
The March 2 warrant permitted a search of the vehicle for bodily fluids, human tissue, weapons that could cause bodily harm, and evidence of “combat or struggle/fight” from the vehicle. It also authorized detectives to utilize a cadaver K9 and chemicals which help identify the presence of blood.
Arizona Daily Independent is not naming the person whose vehicle was seized, as there is no record of him being charged with a crime.
Two weeks before the body was found along I-10, the Willcox Police Department issued a missing person alert which described Mendez as a Hispanic male, five foot nine inches tall, and weighing about 175 pounds. However, there was no public announcement when Mendez’s body was positively identified through his nine body tattoos.
According to the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner (OME), there is insufficient information to determine the cause of Mendez’s death, nor whether he died due to homicide, suicide, or an accident. The main reason for the uncertainty is the condition of Mendez’s remains, which weighed only 74 pounds when recovered.
In addition, many of Mendez’s organs were too decomposed to be identifiable during the autopsy and a test of his liver tissue revealed a very high level of methamphetamine. It is impossible to know whether the meth played a role in Mendez’s death, the autopsy report notes.
During the autopsy, the forensic pathologist noted extensive fracturing at the base of Mendez’s skull as well as several broken ribs. A special technique called a Forensic Anthropology Examination was utilized to better document the cranial and rib fractures.
The examination report notes the fractures occurred “around the time of death” but it is not currently possible to determine whether those fractures caused Mendez’s death or were inflicted shortly after he died. It is also unknown whether several missing fingernails from Mendez’s left hand were removed prior to death or fell away due to decomposition.
Public records show Mendez’s boss Joe Vega filed a missing person report Aug. 28 after stopping by his employee’s house for the third day in a row because Mendez uncharacteristically failed to report to work. It appears Mendez did not have a vehicle at the time and relied on rides from co-workers and friends.
Vega told police he found the door to Mendez’s home unlocked and his clothing inside. Little is known about the investigation into Mendez’s disappearance at that time, but nearly a month later the tow truck driver working near I-10 at Exit 340 flagged down CCSO Deputy Clifford Shipley who was doing a traffic stop nearby.
The sheriff’s office has declined to release any information related to Mendez’s disappearance and death, except Shipley’s report about the discovery of the then-unidentified body. But this week, the Willcox Justice Court released documents which confirm there is an active homicide investigation.
Those documents were obtained by Arizona Daily Independent in response to a public record request and show Detective Tal Parker requested a search warrant Feb. 29 for the seizure of the co-worker’s vehicle. Then Parker executed the March 2 search warrant at the CCSO fleet barn in Bisbee, seizing several pieces of the vehicle, along with fibers, soil, carpeting, and tools.Among the documents released by the court are two motions filed by Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre to have Parker’s affidavits of probable cause sealed from public view. McIntyre noted in his motions that the murder is believed to have occurred in the Willcox area, and the suspects identified in the investigation live in or near Willcox.
“It is imperative the affidavit remain sealed at this time so as not to jeopardize the investigation,” McIntyre noted. Ward signed the order, after which his staff released the non-sealed search warrant documents.
Mendez is survived by his parents and a young son. Sheriff’s spokeswoman Carol Capas was unable on Friday to provide an estimate as to when additional information will be released about the investigation.
Anyone with information about Mendez’s death, his activities in Willcox prior to his disappearance, or how Mendez’s remains came to be along I-10 is asked to call the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office at 520-432-9500.