Original Episodes
114 – Edna Quintana
115 – James Montoya
021 – Suzanne Morphew
145 – Leslie Preer
140 – Angela Marisol Diaz
Episode Transcript
Welcome back to Bite-Sized Crime. This week I’m bringing you the latest updates on some cases that I’ve covered in the past. Since the last update episode in February of this year, there has been significant movement in several cases, so I wanted to spend some time updating you on where they are now. I’ll give a quick overview of each case to catch you up to speed, but the original episodes are linked in the show notes if you’d like to go back and re-listen to get all the details.
The first case I’d like to talk about is the disappearance of 55-year-old Edna Quintana, whose case I covered in episode 114. Edna, a mother of five, was a beloved member of her small mountain community in the town of Saguache, Colorado. In May of 2023, Edna’s sister Marilyn realized she was missing when Edna stopped responding to calls and messages and failed to show up at her mother’s house like usual.
Edna’s boyfriend told Marilyn that he and Edna had gone hiking on Wednesday, May 3rd. He claimed that at some point during the hike, Edna had decided she didn’t want to go any further and turned to go back down the mountain. But when he returned to the car a while later, he claimed Edna wasn’t there. However, he was in possession of Edna’s purse and phone – something Marilyn knew her sister would never leave behind on purpose.
Marilyn filed a missing persons report, then set about finding Edna herself. She told Edna’s boyfriend to draw a map of the mountain where they had been hiking and to point out the place where he had last seen Edna. Marilyn searched the rugged terrain as best she could, knocking on doors at every house she saw along County Road 46AA. But there was no sign of Edna.
Two weeks into the search, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation took up the case and issued a statewide Endangered Missing Alert for Edna Quintana. Teams of volunteers scoured the foothills of Saguache Peak. Over the next few months, two sets of human remains were found, but neither belonged to Edna.
Then, on June 17, 2025, a hiker in a remote area of the county discovered what they believed to be human remains. The El Paso County Coroner’s Office confirmed that they belonged to Edna Quintana, who had been missing for over two years. As of this recording, autopsy results are still pending, and no one has been charged in relation to the case.
If you have any information about the death of Edna Quintana, please contact the Saguache County Sheriff’s Office at 719-655-2525.
Edna’s case is directly connected to the next case I want to discuss, that of 26-year-old James Montoya. James – who went by Jay – disappeared from Denver, Colorado, in the spring of 2023. On the night of April 1st, Jay told his girlfriend that he was going out to the local bar. He left his truck at home and called for an Uber to pick him up, promising to be back in a few hours. But Jay didn’t return, and he wasn’t responding to calls or texts. Soon, his entire family was in the loop, trying everything they could to track him down.
Someone noticed that Jay had posted a picture on Snapchat at 2:30am, just a few hours after he left home. The picture was of a car in front of a house. The location data showed that the picture had been taken near the intersection of Alameda Avenue and Federal Boulevard, about 5 miles northeast of the Hangar 101 bar where Jay had been headed.
Through some excellent sleuthing, Jay’s family tracked down the man who lived in that house, Jesus Arvizo. Jesus told Jay’s father Eddie that he had met Jay at the bar and they had played a few rounds of pool. They had left the bar together and Jesus had dropped Jay off at the club. That was the last time he’d seen him.
When investigators pulled surveillance video from the bar, they saw Jay arrive at Hangar 101 on the night of April 1st. When the bar closed at 2am, Jay was seen leaving the bar in the company of a Hispanic man wearing a black shirt and pants with a red Boston Red Sox baseball cap. Jay got into the man’s car and rode off. Not long after, Jay posted to Snapchat from Jesus Arvizo’s house.
Over the next few weeks, Jay’s friends and family members searched the city while raising funds so they could offer a reward. Investigators worked to gather more information, and it wasn’t long before they found Jay’s cell phone on the side of the road in neighboring Weld County.
On July 26, 2023, a search team out looking for Edna Quintana stumbled upon skeletal remains in the desert foothills of Saguache County. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation released photographs of two items found with the remains: a small metal cross and a man’s dress shoe. Media exposure and communication between departments eventually led to the identification of the remains: they belonged to Jay Montoya.
At a press conference in October of 2023, Denver Police told reporters that they believed Jesus Arvizo was responsible for Jay’s death. Jay had left the bar with Jesus and a woman named Amber Dominguez. Jesus and Jay got into an argument that quickly escalated, ending with Jesus shooting Jay. Jesus and Amber then drove three hours south to Saguache County, dumping Jay’s body in an open area near County Road 46AA. The spot was so remote that had search teams not already been out looking for Edna Quintana, Jay likely would never have been found.
Police issued a warrant for the arrest of Jesus Arvizo, but as of this recording, he has still not been captured. Amber Dominguez was charged with accessory to first degree murder after the fact, and in August of 2024, the Saguache County Sheriff’s Office charged 59-year-old Jan Franklin Murphy with accessory to first degree murder. Authorities believe Murphy helped transport Jay’s body to Saguache County and “materially assisted” in concealing and burying his remains. In April of 2025, Murphy pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to six years in prison followed by three years of supervised parole.
Jesus Arvizo is still wanted for the murder of Jay Montoya. He may be in the area of Alamosa, Colorado. If you have any information about the whereabouts of Jesus Arvizo, please contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. There is a reward of up to $2,000 for information, and your tip can be anonymous.
Both Edna’s and Jay’s cases are connected to the disappearance of Suzanne Morphew, which I covered in episode 021. When Suzanne’s daughters couldn’t reach her by phone on Mother’s Day in May of 2020, they asked a neighbor to check on her. But although Suzanne’s car was in the driveway, no one was answering the door. Suzanne’s husband Barry was out of town – he asked the neighbor to see if Suzanne’s bicycle was in the garage, and it wasn’t. Working on the assumption that Suzanne had gone out for a bike ride and hadn’t returned home, the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office launched a search along the Colorado Trail. But all they found was Suzanne’s bike at the bottom of a ravine.
Investigators began to suspect that Barry Morphew may have been involved in his wife’s disappearance. Court documents revealed that Suzanne had been keeping extensive notes on Barry’s abusive behavior, including accusations of stalking and threatening her with a gun. Two months before she disappeared, Suzanne told Barry that she wanted a divorce, but he begged her to stay. Finally, on May 6th, Suzanne told him it was over. Three days later, Suzanne disappeared.
For an entire year, investigators tracked Barry’s movements and gathered evidence of his involvement. In May of 2021, Barry Morphew was arrested and charged with Suzanne’s murder. Barry’s trial was set for May of 2022.
However, as the trial was about to begin, the district attorney’s office filed a motion to dismiss the case so that they could have more time to search for Suzanne’s body. The judge dismissed the case without prejudice, which meant that prosecutors could still file charges against Barry in the future.
On September 22, 2023, a search team looking for Edna Quintana stumbled upon human remains in a shallow grave in the desert of Saguache County, 45 miles south of the Morphew home in Maysville and the opposite direction from where Suzanne’s bike was found. Dental records were used to confirm that the remains indeed belonged to Suzanne.
In April of 2024, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation released the results of Suzanne’s autopsy, which listed her death as “homicide by undetermined means in the setting of butorphanol, azaperone, and medetomidine intoxication.” According to the National Institute of Health, this combination is often used in wildlife tranquilizers, and Barry Morphew had filled multiple veterinary prescriptions for this compound in the past.
On June 20, 2025, five years after Suzanne’s disappearance, Barry Morphew was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Just this week, his supporters raised enough money to post his bond. While he awaits trial, Barry must wear an ankle monitor and is barred from leaving the state.
If you have any information about this case, please contact the CBI tipline at 719-312-7530.
The next case I’d like to discuss is that of Leslie Preer, which I covered in episode 145. On the morning of May 2, 2001, Leslie’s husband Sandy received a phone call from Leslie’s boss – Leslie hadn’t shown up for work, and she wasn’t answering her phone. When Sandy had left the house that morning, Leslie had been getting ready for work; she should have been there by now.
Sandy and Leslie’s boss met at the house in Chevy Chase, Maryland. There, they found a horrific scene: streaks of red painted the walls near the front door, and there were dark stains on the floor. A corner table had been knocked over, and the rug that usually lay in the foyer had been dragged into the living room, soaked with blood. The men called 911 and waited for help to arrive.
Inside the home, officers found the body of 49-year-old Leslie Preer. She was in an upstairs bathroom, lying face-down in the shower, covered in blood. Forensic investigation showed evidence that someone had tried to clean up the scene, but detectives didn’t think Leslie’s death looked like an obvious homicide.
But when the autopsy results came back, it was clear that Leslie had fought for her life. The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide, the result of blunt force trauma and strangulation.
Blood swabs taken at the scene as well as DNA taken from under Leslie’s fingernails were found to be from an unknown male subject. The DNA was compared to Sandy as well as several other men in Leslie’s life, but all of them were excluded. The profile was uploaded into CODIS in the hopes that a match could someday be found.
Leslie’s case went cold until 2022, when investigators from the Montgomery County Police Department’s cold case unit decided to take a fresh look at the evidence. With new technology, they were able to test the DNA found at the scene and connect it to a suspect through genetic genealogy. It led them to Eugene Gligor – an ex-boyfriend of Leslie’s daughter Lauren. Eugene and Lauren had grown up together, and Eugene had been considered a part of the family. No one suspected that he would be capable of such a horrible crime, but anger and violence were lurking below the surface. He had evaded justice for two decades.
On June 18, 2024, 44-year-old Eugene Gligor was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of Leslie Preer. In May of 2025, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree murder. At his sentencing, Eugene claimed that he had experienced blackouts due to drug and alcohol use and didn’t remember what happened on that day in 2001. He couldn’t offer the family any explanation. The judge sentenced him to 22 years in prison plus five years of probation. He is currently being held at the Maryland Correctional Training Center in Washington County.
The last case I’d like to talk about is that of Angela Marisol Diaz, which I covered in episode 140. In July of 2024, 22-year-old Angela, who sometimes went by Marisol, went missing in Houston, Texas. After not hearing from her in several days, Angela’s family reported her missing to the Houston PD. Angela was usually very active on social media and was extremely close to her family – they knew she wouldn’t leave without telling them.
Angela’s boyfriend Krystephor Brown told the family that he had last seen her on Sunday, June 30th, when he had dropped her off at the Moonlight Inn & Suites on Gulf Freeway around 11:30pm. According to him, Angela had been planning to meet up with a man named Justin Scarbrough. When confronted by Angela’s family, Scarbrough claimed he had dropped her off on Telephone Road, just a few miles from the Moonlight Inn.
Angela’s phone activity showed that it had pinged in a wooded area behind a strip mall on East Freeway, nearly 30 miles from the Moonlight Inn on the other side of Houston. At 5:21am, the phone pinged a few miles west in Greater Fifth Ward before turning off. This didn’t line up with either man’s story.
Four months after Angela disappeared, the Houston PD transferred her case to their human trafficking unit. They had been tracking Angela’s movements prior to her disappearance and had even detained her during an undercover operation in early June. Angela had been engaging in sex work, and she had named Krystephor Brown as the one who was arranging and controlling all of her appointments. Shortly after she allowed police to search her phone, implicating Krystephor in a larger trafficking ring, Angela disappeared.
In November of 2024, the Houston Police Department announced an arrest warrant for Krystephor Karvon Brown on charges of promotion of prostitution. In spite of his criminal history, he avoided jail time by posting a $50,000 bond. As of this recording, his case is still moving through the Harris County court system.
On March 21, 2025, human remains were discovered in a wooded area near NASA’s Johnson Space Center. DNA testing confirmed that the remains belonged to Angela Marisol Diaz. She was found just 15 miles away from where she had disappeared.
In a statement to the press, Angela’s father Edward said, “It is with deep sorrow that I share this heartbreaking update. Angela had been missing since July 1, 2024, and after over a year of searching, her body has now been found. Our family is devastated, and we are currently making arrangements for her funeral.
While we grieve this unimaginable loss, I am determined to seek justice for my daughter. I am asking for your help in sharing her story once more with the community, not only to honor Angela’s memory but also to help us find the person responsible for taking her life.
Angela was a bright and loving soul, a daughter whose presence blessed our family every single day. Her life was cut far too short, and I am pleading with anyone who has information to come forward and assist law enforcement in their investigation.
Thank you for your compassion, your support, and for helping us keep Angela’s memory alive as we fight for justice.”
Angela’s case is still open and active. If you have any information about the disappearance and death of Angela Marisol Diaz, please contact the Houston Police Department at 832-394-1840.
As I mentioned at the top of the episode, all of the original recordings for these case episodes are linked in the show notes, and you can find source materials and transcripts on the podcast website. If you have any other updates or know of a case that I should cover, please reach out to me through email or through the contact form on bitesizedcrimepod.com. Thank you for your support, and I’ll be back next week with a brand new episode.