Watch Out for David Bologh, Rapist, Murderer, and Abuser of Women

An Albuquerque resident complained of a stench emanating from the trunk of a Chevy Sprint parked in their apartment complex in April 1999. When authorities opened the trunk, they found the decomposing body of Stephane Murphey, who had been reported missing on April 18, 1999.

She had been raped, strangled with own stretchy workout pants, and left to rot in the trunk under the hot Albuquerque sun by David F. Bologh. But solving her case was not so easy, due to endless blunders and stalls by the Rio Rancho Police Department. And even once her case was solved, the resolution was not a happy ending for her family, or for New Mexican women in general.

Stephane Murphey

Stephane Murphey disappeared on April 15. She was reported missing on April 18. Police in Rio Rancho did a welfare check on her home and said it appeared to have broken into and burglarized. They noticed her car was missing from the garage. Then her body (and car) was found on April 19, 1999.

The investigation was a mess from Day One. Since her body was found in Albuquerque but she lived in Rio Rancho, there was disagreement about which police department had jurisdiction. Albuquerque Police processed the car while Rio Rancho Police processed her house in Rio Rancho. They allowed people to walk around the house while they collected evidence. Her sister walked through the house while police took fingerprints and noticed blood spots on the bedroom floor. She asked police if it was blood and they replied it was probably stains from Murphey’s furniture on the carpet. The truth is that it was blood, likely marking the place where Murphey died.

The car she was found in was towed to an impound lot. When Murphey’s mother didn’t collect the car, they had it crushed. That car should have been in evidence for forensic processing. There was a great deal of forensic evidence that Albuquerque Police took from the car and the home prior to it being crushed, and they turned it over to Rio Rancho PD a week after Murphey was found. Rio Rancho PD left it in a sealed box in their evidence locker for years, never bothering to process it. They lied to the Murphey family and said that Albuquerque PD refused to release this evidence.

The Murphey family then hired a private investigator and spent $15,000 on trying to do the police’s job. The police hampered every effort by the private investigator. They refused to cooperate and give her evidence that they had. Police told the family that Stephane Murphey probably picked her killer up at a bar and let him into her house, when there was evidence of pry marks in the window and her garage indicating a break-in. The lead detective on her case also said that Murphey was probably drunk and let it happen, when the autopsy did not find any evidence of alcohol in Murphey’s system.

Eighteen months later, the Murphey family tried to feature Stephane’s case on America’s Most Wanted to generate leads. But they were denied because the lead detective had not even filed his report on Murphey’s death. In addition, the detective failed to follow up on Crimestoppers leads that had been pouring in since her death.

Finally, a new lead detective took over the case. After the family went to the press criticizing the Rio Rancho Police Department’s lack of action on the case in 2002, the police department finally submitted her forensic evidence to the state crime lab. It immediately identified her killer. Had they done that in the beginning, they would have caught her killer years earlier.

Stephane Murphey had been murdered by David Bologh, who had already served time for sexual assault and driving under the influence. Despite the fact Bologh lived two doors down from Murphey and had a record of sexual violence, police never considered him a suspect in her death. If they interviewed him at any point in the initial investigation, those interviews were not recorded. At some point, he did make a statement to police that was suspicious, but it was ruled inadmissible in court since Bologh had waived his Miranda rights. Investigators finally found him based on a DNA match between Bologh and semen on a hand towel left in Murphey’s car and skin under Murphey’s fingernails. Since Bologh was already a convicted felon, his DNA was on record according to Brittany’s Law.

In 1999, Bologh pried open Murphy’s window, attacked her in her bedroom, raped her, strangled her with her workout pants, then put her body in the trunk of her Chevy Sprint and drove around with her in there for four days. He finally abandoned her car and body in an Albuquerque apartment complex parking lot. These are not the actions of a sane, remorseful, or safe person. Yet Bologh was allowed to walk free after just 9 years in prison. How the hell did that happen?

Bologh was sentenced to 21 years in 2006, a good 7 years after killing Murphey and 4 years after he was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. He showed no remorse during the trial and did not speak, not even to apologize to the family. Then his sentence was reduced to 18 years since he had been held in jail for 4 years awaiting trial. And then due to good behavior, he got that time cut in half. After 9 years in prison, he was freed in January, 2014. Halfway houses refused to take him so he was released to family in Deming. He only had two years of parole so since November 2016, he has had no check-ins and no GPS ankle monitoring. That means he could commit other sex crimes against women.

The parole board felt he needed to be reintegrated to society to rehabilitate. Yet he demonstrated no signs of rehabilitation in prison. Once out of prison, beyond parole check-ins and an ankle monitor, he had zero rehabilitative support and was not in a halfway house. This man demonstrated schizophrenic and sociopathic tendencies according to psychologists who evaluated him in jail, yet he was not treated for these things appropriately.

Can he be rehabilitated out in society? I think the parole board overestimates this man. He has below average intelligence, like many serial offenders. He has been in trouble since he was an adolescent and has been in and out of prison for years. During the 3 years he walked free after murdering Stephane Murphey, he committed other crimes, such as aggravated assault. He likes alcohol, cocaine, and meth. He stole money from his grandson’s piggy bank for drugs. His wife said he abused her and often disappeared for days, and she was too terrified to leave him.

While his wife did make her escape while he was in prison, another woman let Bologh move in with her in Santa Fe in 2015, not seeming to care about his scary record. This woman had a history of domestic violence and didn’t seem concerned by the risk factors that this would happen again with Bologh. She had her house approved by the parole board and he moved right in. And, sure enough, he began to beat her and threaten her due to fear she was cheating on him on July 1, 2015. He only stopped because he said he wanted pizza. He went back to jail for this assault and was allowed to cut down his parole time day for day behind bars and reintegrate into society after about six months…again.

Murphey was only 37 when Bologh took her life. She was an international flight attendant described as “vivacious.” She had many family members and friends who adored her. Why Bologh targeted her is thought to be a crime of opportunity. The two didn’t know each other well, beyond living near each other in the same Rio Rancho neighborhood.

Her family was understandably devastated by her death. They were also traumatized by the complete lack of regard that Rio Rancho Police had for their loved one’s case. They fought for Stephane Murphey until the very end and they still got only a joke for justice. This beautiful woman and her family deserved better.

David Bologh is now living in Santa Fe. This is what he looks like, so watch out for him. If there is an unsolved rape, he should be one of the top suspects.