Details Of Douglas Murder And Cross Border Arrest Revealed In Bail Hearing

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Raul Peralta Navalles (Cochise County Sheriff's Office)

A young Douglas man must remain in the Cochise County jail until his trial next year on a charge of premeditated murder unless his family can post a $1 million bond, a judge ruled last week.

Raul Peralta Navalles will have to pay a $100,000 nonrefundable fee along with collateral to any bail-bond company willing to cover the $1 million bond. He was indicted by a county grand jury for three counts of first degree murder involving the death of Ruperto Morales, whose body was found by his mother in the family’s Douglas home on Aug. 15.

Navalles, 19, is charged with murder with premeditation, murder during commission or attempted commission of burglary, and murder during commission or attempted commission of armed robbery. He was ordered held without bail

when arrested Oct. 11 at the U.S. Port of Entry in Douglas following his capture in Agua Prieta, Sonora in a multi-agency manhunt that involved the FBI.

Details of Morales’ murder and the investigation were revealed in Cochise County Superior Court during an Oct. 19 hearing conducted by Judge Laura Cardinal on whether Navalles would continue to be held without bail pending trial.

There were two issues Cardinal had to consider during the hearing. First, whether there was “proof evident or the presumption great” that Navalles committed one of the three murder charges. If so, she then had to determine whether there was any combination of release conditions which would safeguard witnesses and the public while ensuring Navalles appeared for his court proceedings.

Douglas Det. Ivan Villaescusa testified at the bail eligibility hearing that Morales’ mother returned from an out of town event about 2 p.m. on Aug. 15 to find her son dead, sitting in a chair at the dining room table. Morales, 42, had been shot twice in the head with .40 caliber bullets, and his body was sprinkled with Comet.

Some rooms in the Morales house were ransacked, with several items missing. Among the items still not recovered are Morales’ house keys.

According to Villaescusa, investigators identified Navalles as a suspect within hours. One of the biggest leads, he testified, was a tip from a local man whose teenaged daughter unwittingly provided Navalles a ride away from the murder scene the morning of Aug. 15.

The teen told investigators that when she arrived near the Morales house Navalles was wearing dark clothing, a ball cap, and blue latex gloves. She also saw a handgun in his waistband. Navalles placed several boxes in her car. Those boxes would later play a critical role in the investigation, Villaescusa testified.

From there, the teen drove toward the Casa De Esperanza Apartments where Navalles lived. During the short drive, he allegedly admitted shooting “a guy twice” during a robbery.

The teen said she refused to help Navalles unload the boxes from her car and refused his request for a ride to the POE where he could cross into Mexico. She later sent him a message stating she planned to contact police.

But getting Navalles into custody was a long process, Villaescusa testified at the bail hearing. In fact, it would take nearly two months and resulted in an unusual amount of cross border cooperation by Mexican authorities.

Cardinal heard nearly four hours of testimony, including evidence of items stolen from the Morales home being found at Navalles’ bedroom. She also reviewed several photographs of the crime scene, including some showing Morales’ body still sitting where he was shot, once at the left temple and once from the back of his head.

The judge ruled that prosecutor Kristina Guerrero-Sisneroz of the Cochise County Attorney’s Office satisfied the proof evident requirement, which is far below the beyond reasonable doubt threshold necessary for a conviction. Cardinal then turned to the issue of release condition, finding that the $100,000 bail suggested by defense attorney Rodrigo Andrade would be insufficient to ensure Navalles appears for trial.

Although Morales’ mother did not testify under oath, she did make a statement to Cardinal about concern for her own safety if Navalles posts bail. She also described the “nightmare” of walking into the kitchen and seeing her son’s lifeless body sitting at the dining room table.

“He did not deserve to die like this,” she said, adding she has since moved out of Douglas. “I fear for my life.”

Andrade, the defense attorney, argued that the county attorney’s office provided no testimony to support a premeditated murder charge. And in response to questions from the judge, Villaescusa confirmed there was no record that Navalles was involved in gangs nor any prior criminal activity.

In the end, Cardinal settled on a $1 million bond. She announced Navalles’ speedy trial deadline is July 16, 2022. The next court proceeding will be a Dec. 13 pretrial conference, but a trial date has not yet been set.

Little is known about what transpired between Morales and Navalles prior to the shooting, but Villaescusa testified that Navalles made post-Miranda comments about acting in self-defense when Morales became violent after hours of drinking and partaking in cocaine.

A toxicology report released as part of Morales’ autopsy shows a significant level of alcohol and cocaine in his system, but prosecutor Guerrero-Sisneroz solicited testimony from Villaescusa that there was no evidence of a struggle, either at the scene or during the autopsy.

Navalles also told investigators that Morales pulled a gun on him; although Villaescusa testified he found no one who had seen Morales in recent years with a gun. But there are witness statements indicating Navalles was armed on the morning of Aug. 15 with a black and silver .40 caliber handgun prior to and after the shooting.

Villaescusa testified that Morales, his girlfriend, and two male friends were in the home until about 2 a.m. when the girlfriend left. A short time later the three men left in a green pickup to pick up another man -later identified as Navalles- who had called or sent a message to Morales seeking a ride in exchange for cocaine.

Morales’ two friends told investigators they left Morales’ home to pick up Navalles at the Border Mart, a local gas station and convenience store three blocks north of the POE.  They then made a quick stop at Navalles’ apartment before returning to Morales’ house.

Store surveillance video showed Navalles was wearing black clothing as well as a NFL hat. The video also helped investigators confirm a timeline, as did the phone records and text messages Navalles exchanged with the teenager who gave him a ride later in the morning.

The two men who claimed to be with Morales after Navalles was picked up told investigators they left together “about 4 a.m.” at which time Morales and Navalles were in good spirits. One of the men consented to a search of his cellphone that day, as did the teenaged girl who gave Navalles a ride from Morales’ house that morning.

Her records show a series of text messages starting just before Noon. When the teen calls out Navalles for bringing her into a murder after the fact, he responds “See no evil speak no evil and hear no evil.”

One of the men at Morales’ home also told investigators he saw Navalles with a .40 caliber silver and black handgun in his waistband at Morales’ home but there were no displays of aggression or gunplay. Police later seized such a gun from the apartment where Navalles was staying.

The gun was equipped with a waistband clip so it could be carried without a holster.

Villaescusa also said the shots fired into Morales’ head were made by a .40 caliber, although each shot was from a different type of ammunition.

investigators seized two types of .40 caliber ammunition which matched the two types involved in the murder. In addition, an AK47 with a high capacity magazine and a short-barrel AR15 where seized from Navalles’ bedroom during a court-authorized search.

Several packages as well as financial documents in Morales’ or his mother’s names were found in the apartment. Other items found inside the apartment and in an outside trash can were also connected to the victim, including a sofa cushion missing from Morales’ home.

During a post-Miranda interview at the Douglas Police Department, Navalles denied that there had been two men with him and Morales at the house. However, he refused to provide the name of a “third man” he claimed was there at the time.

Navalles also said Morales picked him up at Border Mart in a sedan, although Villaescusa testified that surveillance video did not support his claim.

Investigators are waiting for ballistic testing to be completed by the crime lab operated by the Arizona Department of Public Safety. There are also outstanding requests for DNA and other forensic testing.

According to Villaescusa, one round fired into Morales’ left temple exited his right cheek in front of his right earlobe before continuing through the wall. Investigators found the slug “a few feet” outside the exterior wall.

The other entrance wound with an obvious soot deposit at the back of the head caused several skull fractures and fragmented throughout Morales’ brain. The pieces were recovered during the autopsy, according to the autopsy report.

The medical examiner was unable to determine the order in which the gunshot wounds occurred nor how long Morales may have been dead before his mother returned home, Villaescusa testified.