# Fugitive mom wanted in daughter’s Arizona murder used cartels to hide for years before capture in Mexico: feds

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/fugitive-mom-wanted-in-daughters-arizona-murder-used-cartels-to-hide-for-years-before-capture-in-mexico-feds/
- Published: 2026-10-25T12:00:50+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-25T12:10:15+00:00
- Original publisher: Fox News (publisher lean: Far right)
- Original article: https://www.foxnews.com/us/fugitive-mom-wanted-daughters-arizona-murder-used-cartels-hide-years-before-capture-mexico-feds
- Topics: Americas, Art, Culture, Space, Technology, World

## Key points

- Anna Marlene Somoza was arrested in Mexico after more than 12 years as a fugitive.
- She faces first-degree murder charges over her daughter’s 1997 death.
- DNA identified Crystal Reyes’ remains in 2014; her former partner was convicted.

## Summary

Anna Marlene Somoza has been arrested in Mexico after more than 12 years as a fugitive and is expected to be extradited to the United States to face first-degree murder charges in the 1997 death of her three-year-old daughter, Crystal Reyes. US authorities said Somoza’s links to drug cartels helped her evade capture; the case highlights how long it took investigators to identify the child’s remains and pursue the suspects.

Reyes suffered severe abuse before she died, according to the US Marshals Service, which said she was bound, suffocated and left in a sealed box. A hunter found bone fragments in Arizona in 1998, and DNA testing identified them as Reyes’ remains in 2014. Her mother’s former boyfriend, Avelino Tamala, was convicted of murder in 2016 and sentenced to life; Somoza had previously served eight years in prison on drug charges and was deported in 2008.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.