With the disappearance of a mother of three, a FAMILY experienced anguish.
The killer and the remains of Rita Gutierrez-Garcia were eventually found by authorities.
Who was Rita Gutierrez-Garcia?
Rita Gutierrez-Garcia, a mother of three and a paralegal student from Longmont, Colorado, was born on April 7, 1983.
Rita vanished on March 18, 2018, after being last seen on a walk in downtown Longmont.
“There’s a void in my heart from her absence,” the victim’s younger sister told Dateline.
“Sometimes I look at her pictures and I think, ‘Can you believe this?'”
“There are good and bad days. There’s peace there but I miss her.”
The late Rita is survived by her three sons, as well as her sisters, her mother, and other family members.
What happened to Rita?
Rita’s relatives alerted the local police that she was missing not long after she disappeared.
Despite the fact that police started looking into her disappearance, her case was unsolved for four years.
On April 28, 2022, authorities declared that Rita’s remains had been found and identified.
It’s a happy day, her mother Dianne Romero stated in a statement. God has granted me this because I’ve been hoping for this day.
“But at the same time, it’s heartbreaking because I still don’t have my daughter.
“There’s still a road to be traveled and we’ll get there. We’ll get the justice that we’ve been wanting.”
Rita’s cold case turned into a homicide inquiry after the body of Rita was positively identified.
Police detained José Figueroa in relation to the victim’s disappearance and passing while they continued their investigation.
Charges of first-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping were brought against Figueroa.
Figueroa entered a guilty plea on June 3, 2022, and as a result, he was given a 48-year jail term for murder and an extra 12-year term for kidnapping.
The murderer was already incarcerated for 93 years to life after being found guilty of a different crime.
During Figueroa’s court proceedings, he confessed to murdering Rita and admitted: “I was crazy. I couldn’t handle my emotions, and when she did call me a weirdo, yeah, I snapped.
“I punched her, I dragged her to my car. Out of anger, I didn’t know how to handle it, I just strangled her and I killed her.”
“He proved to be a murderous coward,” Rita’s mother Dianne told the court.
“He had no thought of her having children or a family.”
How can I watch Rita’s Dateline episode?
A Dateline NBC show named Seeking Rita will air on March 10, 2023, and it will recapitulate Rita’s disappearance and death.
Seeking Rita debuted on the aforementioned network at 9 p.m. EST that Friday.
The show’s host Keith Morrison was portrayed in the episode gathering testimonies from people who were involved in the investigation.
There are a few streaming options available for anybody who missed the show.
If you missed Rita’s show when it first aired, you can watch it on Hulu or Peacock.
