I don’t know what I would do if one of my children was murdered. I can’t imagine the pain. The parents of David and Nichole Ortiz had to endure that horrific pain twice. Both of their children were murdered two years apart. No one has been convicted of either murder.
David Ortiz, Jr.
David Ortiz, Jr., vanished from Silver City on Halloween night in 2010. He was only 18. His body has never been found. Since it has been 12 years, he is considered deceased. His family believes he was murdered on Halloween night.
Just days before he vanished, Ortiz was finally awarded visitation rights to his one-year-old son, Joshua. The day before he disappeared, he had his first visit with the little boy. His parents, David and Elizabeth Ortiz, came along. The family felt so happy and David’s mother noted that David was a great father. He had been involved in a year-long custody battle with his ex-girlfriend and there was apparently lots of acrimony between them.
On Halloween, he left home around 5:00 pm, saying he was going to hang out with some friends. But he never arrived at their house. A gas station clerk, who also happened to be David’s cousin, said David came into the Snappy Mart convenience store on Swan Street and bought cigarettes around 9:00 pm. No one ever saw or heard from him again. His family reported him missing on November 3.
Though police were reluctant to consider him endangered, his family knew something wasn’t right. David had a lot of things going for him – things that would keep him from running away. He was getting his GED with his mother; ultimately, she got her GED on her own after he vanished and said she did it for David. He also was excited to be in his young son’s life and to be a father.
In the years since, there have been many rumors around Silver City concerning David’s fate. David’s family always reports them to the Silver City Police. One of the most popular rumors is that someone beat David to death and then hauled him to the city landfill in their truck. Police have executed search warrants on numerous properties, including the Southwest Solid Waste landfill, with no luck. Police were ecstatic to uncover bones at a property disclosed on a map mailed in by an inmate, but the remains turned out to be animal bones. The investigation is still ongoing and the most recent reported search for David’s body was in 2020, at the residence of a person of interest in his case. Still, there is just no sign of him. There are plenty of places to hide a body near Silver City – acres of empty land, national forest, and ghost towns just minutes away.
Now David and Elizabeth Ortiz want the State Police to get involved. They feel that the Silver City Police don’t care much about the fate of a young Hispanic male. Their frustrations parallel the experience of Roberto Armando Benavidez Garcia’s mother, who also lost her son in Silver City. Captain Melinda Hobbs took over David’s case in 2019 and she says that police have followed “countless leads” and are still working hard to solve the case.
Elizabeth Ortiz is heartbroken and just wants one person to come forward and be honest. She feels that many people know what happened or were directly involved, yet everyone is too scared to come forward. Many people with connections to the case have died mysteriously, according to Ortiz, and one of those people was her own daughter and David’s sister, Nicole Marie Leon.
Nicole Marie Leon-Ortiz
Less than two years after David vanished, Nicole Marie Leon-Ortiz was holding her two-month-old son when she was shot in the head on September 29, 2012. Her son was thankfully unharmed. She was only 21 and her boyfriend did not report her death. Instead, police conducted a welfare check at her Shady Grove trailer in Silver City at 4:30 in the morning, where they found her deceased.
Her boyfriend, Christopher Calloway, was charged with her murder as well as child abuse and evidence tampering. Calloway claimed that the two had been drinking and arguing over beans, when they decided to play Russian roulette. Calloway emptied his gun of all bullets but one and held it to his head and pulled the trigger on an empty chamber. Nicole seized the gun from him, held it to her head, pulled the trigger, and nothing happened. Calloway then tried to wrestle the gun from her and it went off and killed her.
This seems like such a bizarre story – very hard to believe. Who in their right mind plays Russian roulette, let alone while holding a baby? The fact this violent game started after an argument makes the story even more unbelievable. Yet Calloway got the murder charge and evidence tampering charges dropped by pleading no contest to child abuse and negligent use of a deadly weapon. He pretty obviously murdered his child’s mother and didn’t face any serious repercussions for it.
Elizabeth Ortiz believes that Calloway knew something about David’s death. Nicole found out, and this made Calloway decide to end her life. Melinda Hobbs, the investigator handling David’s case now, also believes that Calloway is one of many people who knows crucial information about David Ortiz, Jr. I do think it is easy to assume there is a mass conspiracy or cover-up when you lose a loved one and there are more questions than answers. However, in this case, the connection between the two murders appears to be validated by cops. There must be some evidence withheld from the public that explains why the police think Calloway is a person of interest.
Nicole is remembered as a beautiful person who loved her son very much. She was always furthering her education. She was also fond of the outdoors. It is so sad that her life and her time with her son was cut so short. Yet another New Mexico woman was lost to domestic violence – and her murderer has done no time for her murder.
Time for Justice
The Ortiz family still doesn’t have answers to either murder. They don’t know what happened to David, but they believe he met with violence on Halloween, 2010. As for Nicole, they know who killed her, but the circumstances surrounding her death are murky. I don’t buy Calloway’s ludicrous story, though. I think he murdered Nicole and Russian roulette was not even involved.
The Ortiz family is now raising Nicole’s son, Damian. They feel hurt that they aren’t allowed to have much of a relationship with Joshua, David’s son. Apparently, David’s ex and her family still have hard feelings toward the Ortiz family.
It is horrible that this poor family has been through so much. It is time for justice. They deserve answers to at least begin to heal from the pain inflicted upon them. My heart aches for the two parents who had to lose two children just two years apart, and the two children being raised without their parents in their lives.
Sources
https://news.yahoo.com/2010-halloween-night-disappearance-young-145000129.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall