I read the story, and horrific as it is, it does not sound like the work
of a serial killer. It sounds very personal to me - she was probably the
killer's girlfriend or ex-girlfriend. :(

Not to minimize or excuse this in anyway, I'm just saying I don't think
Coloradoans need to hide behind locked doors.

But where is Monique, btw??

Joyce

Dragging victim ID'd as suspect's girlfriend
By Kirk Mitchell
Denver Post Staff Writer

The woman dragged to death behind a truck was identified late Thursday
as 49-year-old Luz Maria Franco-Fierros by the Douglas County
Coroner's Office.

She lived a meager existence in her Glendale apartment with her
boyfriend and two boarders because she was sending any spare money
home to Mexico to her children, said Ramon Pulgarin, her neighbor and
friend.

"She was a single mom and a very hardworking person," Pulgarin said
Thursday. "She laughed a lot. She pretty much always had a smile on
her face."

Franco-Fierros had a daughter and at least one teenage son, according
to friends.

Juan Marcos Gutierrez, the Mexican consul general in Denver, said
Thursday that his country helped the coroner's office identify her.

Gutierrez said authorities sent a Mexican driver's license with
Franco-Fierros' fingerprints to the coroner for confirmation.

The coroner's office, in a news release that also disclosed her name,
said officials have notified next of kin.

Meanwhile, Gutierrez's office also hopes to ensure that the suspect,
who is a Mexican citizen, gets a fair trial, Gutierrez said. The
Colorado public defender's office will represent him, he said.

Jose Luis Rubi-Nava, 36, was arrested on investigation of first-degree
murder in the dragging death of the woman, whose body was discovered
early Monday morning in front of homes in the Surrey Ridge
subdivision.

Even before the coroner released Franco-Fierros' name, friends and
neighbors knew she was probably the victim.

They said Franco-Fierros matched the description of the slain woman
and was living with Rubi-Nava in a Glendale apartment when she
disappeared this week.

Pulgarin said his wife, Zulma, was a close friend of Franco- Fierros'
and she had not seen her all week.

Franco-Fierros worked at a Taco Bell on Colorado Boulevard and at a
Wendy's.

Most of the time Pulgarin saw her, she was wearing a uniform for one
of the two restaurants.

She was looking for jobs in which she could get longer hours, Pulgarin
said.

Zulma Pulgarin helped Franco-Fierros get a job with the housekeeping
business she worked for. But Franco-Fierros could get only three hours
of work a day and that was not enough for her, he said.

Two boarders in her apartment helped pay rent and also paid
Franco-Fierros to cook for them, Pulgarin said.

The men slept on the floor in the living room, he said. She and
Rubi-Nava slept in the apartment's only bedroom.

The murder came as a complete shock, he said. "It was devastating,"
Pulgarin said. "You can't believe that kind of thing."

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4377866

SD (A)