Woman wanted in 1997 Arizona child killing arrested in Xochitepec, Mexico
Anna Marlene Somoza, 60, was arrested Oct. 18 in Xochitepec, Mexico, on first‑degree murder charges in the 1997 death of her 3‑year‑old daughter in Arizona, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
The agency said Crystal Reyes was subjected to severe abuse, confined in a small dog kennel, bound, gagged and left for weeks, and on Jan. 30, 1997, was suffocated with a towel taped to her face and left inside a sealed cardboard box.
Investigators began after human bone fragments were found by a hunter in Arizona in November 1998; forensic DNA analysis identified the remains as Reyes in August 2014, the Marshals Service said. Detectives interviewed the child’s biological father and used his DNA to confirm her identity, and authorities charged Somoza and Avelino Tamala in December 2014.
Tamala was convicted of Crystal’s murder in 2016 and sentenced to life in prison, the agency said. Somoza previously served eight years in federal prison on drug and weapons charges and was deported in 2008.
The Marshals Service said Somoza had taken “deliberate and extensive measures to evade detection” while at large. Authorities obtained an arrest warrant in October 2022 allowing her extradition to the United States, and in 2026 the search was designated a major case, drawing additional manpower and resources.
The agency said it learned in early September that Somoza was “actively evading detection” in Cuernavaca before Mexican law enforcement arrested her in Xochitepec on Oct. 18. The U.S. Marshals Service will work with Mexican authorities on extradition, the Fox News report said.
Russell Lorfing, a former federal prosecutor quoted in the report, said U.S. authorities have “diplomatic assurances” but that international extraditions can take months or longer if the defendant files legal challenges in Mexico, such as an amparo.
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