Post by HeadMarshal on Apr 3, 2014 11:45:42 GMT -5
The murder of 18-year old Kaitlyn Arquette in Albuquerque remains unsolved 25 years later. The case was featured on Unsolved Mysteries, but Kaitlyn's mother has said that America's Most Wanted was never interested in airing this case.
On July 16, 1989, Kaitlyn was driving from her friend's house to her parents house when she was shot to death after 10:30 PM. She was in a coma for 20 hours but died the next evening. Her friend, Sharon Smith, said that Kaitlyn was very upset and wanted to know the whereabouts of her boyfriend, Dung Ngoc Nguyen whom she was planning on breaking up with.
Now here's where this case starts to get weird and there is a lot to cover.
Albuquerque Violent Crimes Detective Ronald Merriman driving by at 11PM saw a small car parked near Kaitlyn's Ford Tempo, described as a gray Volkswagen Beetle. He called it in as an accident without injuries. He checked again and saw blood on Kaitlyn but apparently missed the bullet holes in her face, in the driver's window or in the exterior of the car. Merriman's report said he called an ambulance and for backup but medical personnel said no one was present when they went to transport Kaitlyn. The owner of the Volkswagen, 21-year old Paul Apodaca said he stopped by to see what was going on and police didn't press much further. Apodaca was sentenced in 1995 for raping a relative and was never questioned again by police. Two of Kaitlyn's neighbours reported seeing three Asian men spray painting a gray Volkswagen Beetle black in her apartment's parking lot shortly after the shooting, and that they may have been friends of Dung Ngoc Nguyen.
Kaitlyn's mother, Lois Duncan has long believed her daughter was murdered because she was planning on exposing an interstate car insurance fraud ring Nguyen and his associates were involved in. Police on the other hand, have long believed Kaitlyn was killed as a result of a random drive-by shooting. Six months after the murder, they arrested three young men who a witness said killed Kaitlyn as a result of a dare, but the charges were soon dropped because the witness was incarcerated at the time. In 1999 and 2001, detectives said that they believed the case was closed and they were not investigating it.
Lois now believes that Kaitlyn became aware of drug use by prominent people in New Mexico because certain members of Nguyen's group allegedly leaked the information and Kaitlyn was trying to verify it.
Some more pieces of information. Nguyen actually confessed about the car insurance fraud ring and said 20 other people in Albuquerque were involved. Albuquerque authorities didn't follow up on Nguyen's claims. Kaitlyn's last phone call was to Bao Tran who was employed at a law office. The fraud ring is also believed to have been involved in drug trafficking and stolen computer chips.
The Volkswagen Beetle owned by Paul Apodaca at the night of Kaitlyn's murder, was also located at an auto body shop that was a chop shop for stolen cars and a narcotics distribution center. Some cops also hung out at the auto body shop. One of them was officer Matt Griffin, who has since been sentenced to life for several bank robberies and the murder of a wintess.
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Thoughts? Sadly it doesn't look like this case is ever going to be solved. Albuquerque authorities have long been accused and investigated for corruption. Kaitlyn probably was murdered because she learned too much information and almost no one in law enforcement is interested in bringing the people responsible to trial.
Admin Note #1 If you have any information on this case, our advice would be to please visit the Who Killed Kait Arquette? website: kaitarquette.arquettes.com/index.htm and/or send a tip at the Unsolved Mysteries website- ubsolved.com
Admin Note #2: If you have any news-related updates on this case, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form
