Post by Scumhunter on Jan 21, 2018 5:35:46 GMT -5
(Above photo credit: dallasnews.com via Garland (Texas) Police Department)
Fugitive Profile as of January 21st, 2018: (Based on Garland Crime Stoppers website, 'In Pursuit' tv show & ID channel page, online news articles)
Full Name: Anibal Edilfredo Chirino Mejia
Date of Birth: 4/11/1993
Sex: Male
Race: Hispanic
Height: 5'9"
Hair: Black
TIPS: Anyone having information should call the Garland police at 972-485-4840 or submit a tip anonymously at 972-272- 8477 or garlandcrimestoppers.org.
UPDATE: As of January 16th, 2019, anyone with information on this fugitive's whereabouts can also call or text "In Pursuit" on the Investigation Discovery channel at 833-378-7783 and/or submit a tip at the show's website: www.InPursuitTips.com
From dallasnews.com:
A search warrant affidavit reveals that a Fort Worth journalist found shot to death in Garland may have been killed over $3,500.
Authorities found the body of 57-year-old Jacinto Hernandez Torres — whose byline was Jay Torres — in the backyard of a vacant home June 13. He had a gunshot wound in the chest, and officials believe he had been dead since June 10.
Police have identified 23-year-old Anibal Edilfredo Chirino Mejia of Garland as a suspect in the slaying and plan to charge him with murder. He remains at large.
According to the affidavit, the last phone number dialed from Torres' phone belonged to a 16-year-old who worked with Mejia on a roofing crew.
Phone records showed six calls between Torres and Mejia's co-worker on June 10. There were also 12 calls between the co-worker and a phone number later identified as Mejia's.
Garland police said they met with Mejia at a job site in Dallas on July 8, where he told them that he had wanted to buy a house Torres was selling in January. Mejia emailed detectives pictures of two receipts — one for $2,500, the other for $1,000 — that he said was money he had given Torres toward closing costs on the house.
Detectives said Mejia told them he went back to the house in February and discovered a woman living there and that he then tried to get in touch with Torres. Mejia said he last spoke with Torres in April, according to the affidavit.
Aline Torres, Torres' daughter, had previously told police that she had seen a letter to her father from an Anibal Mejia. In the letter, Mejia tells Torres to give him back the $3,500 or face legal action.
Mejia told detectives that on June 10 he asked a co-worker to call Torres for him because he didn't think Torres would answer a call from his phone, the affidavit says. He said he had been at a job site in Richardson that entire day, leaving only to get materials or food.
Detectives also interviewed Mejia's co-worker, who said Mejia had been at the job site all day June 10 and that he did not remember calling him. According to the affidavit, he said he let Mejia use his phone to call someone about a house.
When detectives tried to speak to Mejia again that day, they were unable to find him.
Police then obtained a search warrant for Mejia's phone records and determined that, about 13 minutes before Torres' last phone call, Mejia's phone had connected with a cell tower about a mile from the home where Torres' body was found.
Detectives reinterviewed Mejia's co-worker on July 14. According to the affidavit, he told them Mejia asked him to set up a meeting with Torres to buy a house in the 4200 block of Mayflower Drive at 4 p.m. June 10.
The co-worker said that shortly after 4, Mejia sent him a picture of a gun and then called and said he had killed Torres, the affidavit says.
Detectives found a text-message conversation that matched the co-worker's story and included a picture of a handgun.
Torres emigrated from Mexico to the Dallas area in 1979 to pursue a career as a journalist, and it was his own experience that fueled much of his immigration reporting, his family said. He worked as a reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram before becoming a freelancer.
www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2016/08/03/fort-worth-journalist-may-killed-3500-search-warrant-reveals
www.garlandcrimestoppers.org/wanteds.aspx?F=Mejia,%20Anibal%20Edilfredo
Thoughts? The sad irony to this case is sometimes journalism can be a dangerous profession (even immigration reporting), and Jay Torres may have been killed over a measely $3,500 instead. I don't know if Mejia had a legitimate gripe or not. But the answer was to take Torres to small claims court, not to allegedly take the law into his own hands.
As of 1/21, 2018, Mejia is still listed on Garland Crime Stoppers as a wanted fugitive.
Additionally, as of 1/21/2018, there has been no movement in the case against Mejia according to Dallas County's online court records search (Disposition code F1624159: courtecom.dallascounty.org/publicaccess/
Admin Note: If you have any news-related updates on this case, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form
