A Mountain Town's Code of Silence: The Murders of Earl and Clarissa Gonzales

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
High in the mountains of northern New Mexico, overlooking the
village of Questa, a father and his young daughter lived
in the dream home he built with his own hands.
Friends and neighbors knew him as the kind of man
who always offered up help and kept his door open
to anyone in need. But that open door would one
day invite an evil. In early September of nineteen ninety nine,

(00:34):
both he and his nine year old daughter were found
murdered inside their home. Now twenty six years later, this
brutal crime remains unsolved and is just one of several
homicides haunting this small, tight knit community. Investigators have long
said that the biggest barrier in cases like these is
that community members may know more than they're willing to

(00:56):
share and hold back by fear of retaliation. My hope
in telling this story is that it might reignite the
case in the mind of the right person, someone who
can finally come forward with the information needed to bring
justice for this father and daughter. I'm your host, Megan,
and each week on a Simpler Time True Crime, I

(01:18):
cover older, unsolved cases and challenge the idea that a
simpler time means a safer time. This week, I'm bringing
to you the unsolved murders of Earl and Clarissa Gonzalez.

(01:51):
It was late in the afternoon of Thursday, September two,
nineteen ninety nine, and a woman named Mary Joe was
growing concerned. She had been trying to call her boyfriend,
fifty one year old Earl Gonzalez, and had been unable
to reach him all day. Nineteen ninety nine was a
time of much lighter cell phone usage, and even people

(02:13):
who had them, they weren't glued to them twenty four
to seven.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Not to mention, I can.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Assure you that where Earle and his daughter Clarissa lived
would not have had cell phone service. With something just
not sitting right, Mary Joe decided to go up and
check on him. Earl and Clarissa lived on the outskirts
of Questa, New Mexico, with a population of fifteen hundred

(02:38):
at the time, everyone knew everyone. In fact, the population
has only climbed to just over two thousand in the
past twenty five years. The small village is tucked away
and isolated, bordering the Carson National Forest, and it's just
a short distance from the Colorado border. Earl's girlfriend pulled

(02:59):
into the driveway and approached the house. On the door
was a note attached that simply said why. As she
went inside, there she discovered the unimaginable Earle Gonzalez was
dead on the couch, the apparent victim of a gunshot
wound to the head. Mary Joe quickly placed a phone

(03:23):
call for help. When police arrived, they found the same
scene that Mary Joe did, but there wasn't any immediate
sign of Earl's daughter, Clarissa. Initially, Earle's girlfriend thought that
maybe Clarissa had fled the home during her father's attack
and was hiding in the nearby woods, so they began
to pull together a search party, but first they wanted, to,

(03:46):
of course, clear the house, and so police first went
room by room through the first floor and no sign
of Clarissa. Then they went up to the second of.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
The three floors.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
Room by room they went until they made their way
into what looked like the little girl's bedroom, and there
on the floor next to her bed was nine year
old Clarissa Gonzalez. Clarissa had signs of ligature strangulation and
she was also deceased. The nine year old was so

(04:22):
proud because She had recently made her first communion at
Saint Anthony's Catholic Church in Questo, and she also started
her fifth grade school year at Alta Vista Elementary School.
Clarissa's parents had divorced, and her mom lived in Colorado
and Clarissa stayed in New Mexico with her father. She

(04:42):
was known as being a bubbly girl who talked a
lot and was very protective of her father.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
She actually loved to.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
Try to bake him things and make him his meals.
All around the outside of the house were little clues
that a young girl lived there, toys strewn about in
a tiped over girl's bicycle. She also was so happy
that she had won her local school science fair. Earle
was well known in Questa and in nearby Taos, where

(05:10):
he worked. He worked for the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps
or RMYC as a crew supervisor. I'm going to read
to you a brief passage directly from the website of
the RMYC that explains a little bit about the work
they do in their mission. It reads quote RMYC was

(05:32):
founded in nineteen ninety five by a group of dedicated
parents and community leaders who recognized the cultural and economic
challenges within New Mexico's communities. Traditional communities were being gentrified,
youth were abusing substances, and the natural environment was being neglected.

(05:52):
This group of parents and leaders developed a model for
youth development that combined life skills training and on job
experiences with community service. Using the example of the Civilian
Conservation Corps from the nineteen thirties, the founder started RMYC
with a modest grant, designed a curriculum for youth workforce development,

(06:15):
and engaged potential partners. Soon the first crew restored a
public park in Quest in New Mexico. Since its founding,
RMYC engages about two hundred corpsman per year with twenty
full time employees who work with all levels of government, schools,
community organizations, and businesses to deliver the program to communities

(06:38):
across northern and central New Mexico end quote. Earle loved
this job in supervising and.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
Teaching the youth.

Speaker 1 (06:47):
According to the RMYC project's director, Carl Colonius, he had
helped his crew restore thirteen homes in nineteen ninety eight
for the elderly. Colonius told the paper quote he was enthusiastic, committed.
He really gave a lat of thought to how to
help his crews, how to provide more than just the
practical education. He made real attempts to befriend and help

(07:10):
his crew members. End Earl himself had been interviewed at
a point for the work he did, and he spoke
of how he loved when suddenly he could tell his
teaching just landed and a little light bulb went off
in the kid's minds. But his work was far from
all Earl that was known for. Having been born in
Colorado and living with a tight knit family with two

(07:34):
brothers and two sisters, Earle served in the military, notably
he was a Vietnam Vet. He had five children of
his own, with Clarissa being his youngest.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
One of his.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Colleagues who wrote an editorial piece in memory of him,
a woman named Kristin Barney, said that despite all he
had accomplished and all he had going on, at any
given time, he would discuss raising Clarissa as a single
father who was a little older in age to become
a dad, as the toughest job he ever had. Earle

(08:07):
had worked for years building the home he and Clarissa
shared up on the mountain side. It was solar powered
and maxed out at five hundred dollars a year for
the cost of utilities. He was known as being a
gifted mason and general contractor. His home was always a
work in progress, never finished, and this was true at
the time of the murders. He was also a farmer

(08:30):
and on his land he had goats, cows, pigs, and horses,
and he raised alfalfa for hay. Earle had lived all
over the world with his military career, at times living
in Japan, Alaska, Hawaii, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, and California, but
Questa is where he planted roots. Earle was a highly

(08:53):
ranked District six commander in the VFW. He also held
an associate degree in business administration from Northern New Mexico
Community College and also studied engineering, architectural engineering, and psychology
at the University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University,

(09:14):
University of Arizona, and Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
Earle was known.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
As someone who would lend a hand to anyone and
he kept his door open for anybody in need. Literally,
he didn't lock his doors and he never felt unsafe,
So when police noticed there were no signs of forced entry,
this wasn't necessarily a surprise. It was pretty quickly determined
that Earl and Clarissa had been murdered while they'd been asleep.

(09:43):
Someone had slipped into their unlocked home, killed Earle, and
then located Clarissa to murder. Police had their work cut
out for them. Who wanted Earle and Clarissa dead?

Speaker 2 (09:56):
And why.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
I wanted to take a moment to thank you for
tuning in this week. There are a few ways you
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Speaker 2 (10:17):
To share the podcast.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
On your social media or with a friend. Three, I
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more work in this space, and pretty soon I'll be
adding some bonus content there as well. I appreciate you
all so much, so, just for some context, questa police

(10:51):
department was so small they had only two officers that
worked for the whole department. They actually used to have
to swap who was on call for evening call. While
they were part of the investigation, they recognized that they
could not do this one alone, so they pulled in
bigger law enforcement entities like the Taos County Sheriff's Department

(11:12):
and New Mexico State Police to assist with the investigation. First,
it was important to go through how and when Clarissa
and Earl were killed. The autopsies revealed that the two
had likely been murdered about twelve to twenty four hours
before the bodies were found by Earl's girlfriend. Witnesses were
able to place Clarissa and Earl as alive and well

(11:34):
during the day and evening of Wednesday, September first.

Speaker 2 (11:38):
This led them to.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
Believe that the murders likely took place overnight into the
early morning hours of Thursday, September tewoond as the two
were asleep. Earl would have been attacked first on the
couch with a single gunshot wound to his left temple.
The source material is all over the place on this
Some sources call it a wound from a small caliber pistol,

(12:02):
others describe it as a high caliber weapon, and a
couple of places on the internet referred to it as
being Earl's own forty five Ruger Blackhawk missing from his home.
Police have never stated anything was stolen from the Gonzales home.
In fact, that was part of the mystery robbery didn't

(12:22):
appear to be a motive. And that's just one of
a few different Internet rumors that I can't confirm. But
we'll discuss and make clear that it's unconfirmed. That doesn't
mean it's not true, it's just not been verified. After
killing Earl, it appears Clarissa was killed in her bedroom.
Police took some different items that could have been used

(12:44):
for ligature strangulation. Is that that is how it was determined.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
That Clarissa was killed.

Speaker 1 (12:50):
They took telephone cords and a plugin he did blanket
to see if any of those had forensic evidence on them.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
What they found we don't know.

Speaker 1 (12:59):
And here lies the second internet rumor that goes around
one unconfirmed source. A blog that i'll link talks about
Clarissa being sexually assaulted. If this is true, that's a
huge clue and would point to the overall motive in
the case.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
Take out the dad so that.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
You can get to the young girl for your sexually
motivated crime. The problem is nowhere else confirms this, and
all original reporting and police commentary only speak of the
ligature strangulation and claim a lack of motive, So take.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
That for what you will.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
The next question police had was who left the note?

Speaker 2 (13:43):
Was it connected?

Speaker 1 (13:44):
How ominous that a single note is left on the
door that says nothing? But why, what does that even mean?
And in what world is it not connected? But also
why would you leave a note if you were connected
to the crime.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
That's so odd.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
Police began going through and conducting interviews with locals, family friends, coworkers,
and the like. But the next clue was actually from
their own police files. You see, Earl's truck had been
stolen just a few days prior to the double homicide.
He had filed a police report on August twenty seventh

(14:22):
that his black nineteen ninety four Ford truck with license
number two three one LMB with the words thunder written
across the side, had been stolen from around Old Lama Road.
This road was a scenic route through the area, and
it's unclear how it was stolen or exactly went like.

(14:42):
Was it overnight?

Speaker 2 (14:44):
Was he at work?

Speaker 1 (14:45):
But at the time of the homicide, the truck, and
who stole it had not been identified or found. The
townspeople had to wonder did whoever steal his truck come
back and harm him further. My boy friend always tells
me that he doesn't keep his identifiable documents like insurance
and registration docks in his glove compartment, but rather in

(15:08):
his wallet, so that they're always on him and his person.
And in case something ever happened, like someone broke into
his vehicle, they wouldn't have his home address. Maybe the
people who stole Earl's vehicle just a few days before
his murder came back to rob him and stumbled into
him being home. I mean, in one sense, you have

(15:28):
to expect if you burglarize a house overnight that there
will be residents home. But maybe they were surprised by
him sleeping on the couch. But then why go upstairs
and kill his nine year old who clearly isn't a witness.
It doesn't make a ton of sense, but it also
can't be completely ruled out. The people of Questa were afraid.

(15:49):
Questa's rugged location and isolation, tucked deep in the mountains
of northern New Mexico, give the village a sense of
both intimacy and secrecy. In a place where everyone knows everyone,
gossip travels quickly, but so do fears of retaliation. That
combination can create an environment where people keep quiet, even.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
When they may hold pieces of the truth.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
The small town closeness that binds neighbors together also allows
for unspoken codes of silence, and over time that silence
can become a breeding ground for crime cover ups and
unanswered questions. One thing that was interesting is that anyone
who has interviewed in the papers, just as concerned neighbors,

(16:40):
they were all anonymous, citing their fear that the killer
or killers would come back for them.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
One woman who was a.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
Nearby neighbor whose daughter played with Clarisa, said that she
couldn't sleep after she found out what happened and said, quote,
it's shocking to think that something like that could happen here.
It's such a small, quiet town end quote. But others
in the community had skepticism of their small town safety,

(17:10):
and that might be because of the relatively high amounts
of murders and missing persons from Questo and the nearby
community of Taos. Here are just a few of the
cases in July nineteen eighty seven, twenty year old Fritz
Vio Pando, the third of Questa, New Mexico, was found

(17:31):
shot in the back of the head after attending a
large Fourth of July family gathering. Accounts of what happened
that night have always been murky, with conflicting stories about
his actions and who he may have been with. Despite
the small size of the community and the many people present,
no one has ever been held accountable, and nearly four

(17:54):
decades later, his murder remains unsolved. With Fritz's homicide, there
were literally dozens of witnesses and still nobody will talk.
In nineteen eighty eight, Michael Riddle, aged thirty two, and
Keith Landermier I'm hoping I'm saying that correctly he was

(18:14):
twenty five years old. They were found bludgeoned to death
in their rented home on the outskirts of Questa, New Mexico,
after being undiscovered for more than a week. So it
was a really horrific scene when they were finally found.
A friend named Duke White discovered the bodies when he
noticed the lawn was overgrown, the dogs looked to starving,

(18:35):
and there was a foul odor.

Speaker 2 (18:37):
Coming from the house.

Speaker 1 (18:39):
Inside, investigators found the victims in advanced decomposition, along with
evidence of a small marijuana growing operation of nearly two
hundred plants. The White became a person of interest due
to his inconsistencies in his account and delays in notifying authorities.
No one was ever charged in the case remains one

(19:00):
of Northern New Mexico's many unsolved homicides. Just before Christmas
in nineteen ninety three, Arnieesnaro Senior, aged thirty, was shot
and killed, and this was right in quest in New Mexico.
He was leaving the Elmonte Carlo Lounge with his girlfriend
and some friends. He left the bar following a pool game,

(19:21):
and he was reportedly walking when he was attacked. He
had a four year old son at the time of
his death, and the investigation into his murder, both initially
by local authorities and later through community efforts, has widely
been criticized as bungled, with claims of insufficient follow up,
lack of leads, and no one ever convicted, and his

(19:42):
case still remains unsolved. Barbara Hollick was a thirty three
year old German native who had lived in Taos, New Mexico,
which is about fifteen or so miles away from where
Earl and Clarissa lived, and she had lived there since
nineteen eighty nine, and in late June of ninety.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
Five she DISSI. She was an artist.

Speaker 1 (20:02):
She sold handcrafted jewelry and painted pottery, and she.

Speaker 2 (20:05):
Was well known in the community.

Speaker 1 (20:07):
On the night she vanished, she was seen having a
drink with friends near the Tause Plaza, and when she
failed to show up for work a few days later,
her employer reported her missing. Inside her apartment, investigators found
many personal items still in place. Her purse was there,
passport keys, money identification, and I'm talking about thousands of

(20:28):
dollars in cash. So her apartment seemed undisturbed, but she
actually had access to this other recently vacated apartment. Actually
I should go back for a minute. Her own apartment
seemed undisturbed, but there were two work gloves in these
weird positions, like one was on the floor in front
of the refrigerator, the other was near the exterior door,

(20:48):
and they didn't look like they would fit her. So
that was kind of off. And then a few days later,
a pair of shoes that she owned were found inside
a recently vacated apartment in the same building, and she
had access to this apartment because she sometimes assisted with
turning the on off exterior lights. So that particular apartment

(21:10):
had its telephone line cut and its mattress cover removed.
But that's like all the evidence that's in the case.
By the time police investigated that second apartment, a maid
had cleaned it, so all of the forensic and critical
evidence was destroyed and her case is still unsolved as well.
After the murders of Earl and Clarissa, the local community

(21:33):
mounted pressure on authorities. A local resident named Felipe Gonzalez
wrote to the paper and criticism of the authorities investigating
these cases, and he wrote, quote law enforcement in the
Questa area seems to be just a dream for most
residents of Questa. I am a former resident and still
vote there.

Speaker 2 (21:52):
I have been given to.

Speaker 1 (21:54):
Understand that since nineteen sixty eight, there have been fourteen
unsolved murders in the questing why the recent murders of
Earl Gonzalez and his daughter Clarissa have.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
Really shaken the community.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
A grand jury should be called in to dig into
the lawless town. Someone with guts should get the ball
rolling to convene a grand jury to find these murderers. Someone,
please get the ball rolling before there's another unsolved murder.
I would do so myself, but I am no longer
a resident there hoping for an investigation soon. Questa police

(22:30):
chief Frank Gallagos responded, mostly citing their small force and
their willingness to bring in help. But he called into
question the criticism of police when, in his opinion, several
cases could be solved if the right people came forward.

Speaker 2 (22:46):
He wrote back, quote.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
One thing we must bear in mind is that it
takes a community working together to make Questa a better
place to live.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
How can we.

Speaker 1 (22:55):
As citizens complain if we are not willing to get in.
I focus quite a bit on the local community knowing something.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
But one thing I should mention is the specific.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
Area of Earl's home. According to newspaper articles that all
have linked in the show notes, the Gonzales home was
nearby an outdoor recreational area that brought in a lot
of outside hikers, campers, and outdoorsy tourists. So one could ask,
did someone just passing through opportunistically kill Earl and Clarissa

(23:37):
because they found an unlocked door. While not the most likely,
you can't rule it out. In May of two thousand
and five, Joseph Edward Duncan the Third selected the grown
family in Quarterline, Idaho by driving by their residents and
seeing the kids outside. He ultimately stoked the family for
a bit before murdering all of them besides young Dylan

(23:58):
and Shasta. Shasta ultimately survived the ordeal heroically. But I
bring this up because if some SIKO was just in
the area, it's not outside the realm of possibility that
they saw all of Clarissa's toys outside outside of the
home and they watched Earl and Clarissa's routine before striking.

(24:18):
If that's the case, it's going to be much harder
to solve. About a month after the murders, police found
Earl's missing truck and two juveniles were arrested. The two
had allegedly stole it for joy riding purposes, and a
known drug dealer in Questa had concealed the vehicle in
a field. One final rumor that persists in this case

(24:42):
is that Earle had confronted these said juveniles himself right
before his murder and pointed the finger at them. This
was never substantiated. By police or in the media. So
again I'm not saying it didn't happen. I'm just saying
that I can't substantiate it. So it's important to me
when you listen to my podcast, you know what's rumor

(25:03):
and what isn't. In the months following the murders, candidates
vying for the district attorney's role used the Gonzales case
to emphasize the change they were willing to bring to
the position. A candidate named Sam Herrera ran on the
platform stating, quote protecting all, granting favors to none. Sam

(25:27):
Herrera was not successful in his campaign, but at some
point to the status quo is the problem, because he
said in his campaign he said, the status quo has
failed us, the old paradigm is no longer worked, the
status quo failed, and he named all these victims in
the area and he just said his commitment was to
the people and just go vote for him. And people

(25:48):
did feel that the status quo was the problem. With
it being such a small community. Some members felt that
law enforcement and the quote unquote good old boy's mentality
that they were complicit in covering up some of these crimes.
But New Mexico's state Police agent Chad Davis, he would disagree.
In two thousand and three, he came forward stating that

(26:09):
the investigation was heading.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
In a new direction. He sure that forensic.

Speaker 1 (26:13):
Evidence was available in the crime, though he wouldn't specify
exactly what. He said the testing was long because they
didn't have a suspect to compare the samples to. Thus
cases that had pending trials with a suspect bumped them
out of the line. He told reporters for the Taos News, quote,

(26:34):
I've been reinterviewing some people and have found many conflicting stories,
but it's all speculation at this point. He added, he
was confident that the new information would lead him to
an arrest or arrests. In the same interview, he dropped
a bombshell. He stated that they identified who had left

(26:55):
the note at the scene that read why, and he
shared that it had nothing to do with the homicides.
To this day, police have not elaborated anymore on that
and how they know this, so we just have to
take their word. He also said the two juveniles who
took the vehicle for joy riding were also ruled out.

(27:16):
Despite Davis's beliefs that DNA would solve this case. Twenty
two years have passed since that interview.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
With no substantial leads.

Speaker 1 (27:26):
New Mexico has long struggled with high crime rates, especially
violent crime, which in twenty twenty four was reported at
seven hundred and seventeen incidents per one hundred thousand people,
nearly double the US average. While nationally only about forty
seven percent of homicides are cleared by arrest, New Mexico's

(27:47):
statewide homicide clearance rate has been reported as higher around
seventy six percent in twenty twenty one, with the State
Police Investigations Bureau even reporting one hundred percent clearance rate
for the cases it encountered in twenty twenty three. However,
the broader picture is less encouraging. Clearance rates for violent

(28:07):
crimes outside of homicide have declined sharply over the past decade,
dropping from about one in four cases solved to just
one in seven. This means that while homicides in New
Mexico are more likely to be cleared than the national average,
the state also faces one of the highest overall crime
rates in the country. In legs significantly when it comes

(28:30):
to solving violent crimes more broadly, leaving many cases unresolved.
It is believed that there are people out in the
community who know what happened to Earl and Clarissa, and
I have two asks to emphasize. One, it's imperative for
law enforcement to communicate how they plan to help keep

(28:53):
people safe who come forward with information in the unsolved
cases in this episode and beyond. Clearly, fear has gotten
in the way of justice on many occasions, and I
don't blame people for being afraid. In this case, at
times there were substantial rewards offered, and still it was crickets.

(29:15):
But two, I just want to point out that Earl's
parents died just a decade after this murder. Clarissa is
buried up in Colorado where her mother lives, and still
though twenty six years later, all the surviving relatives want
more than anything to know who did this and why.

(29:36):
If you have any information on the murders of Earl
and Clarissa Gonzalez, please contact the New Mexico State Police
Cold Case Homicide Unit at five zero five eight two
seven nine zero sixty six or email Coldcase dot Homicide

(29:57):
Unit at State dot co US. Thank you for tuning
in to another episode of at Simpler Time True Crime.

Speaker 2 (30:06):
If you appreciate all this work I'm.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
Doing, please leave a five star review and share this
podcast with a friend. If you have a case suggestion
for me for a case that is twenty or more
years old, please email me. My email address is Simpler
timecrimepod at gmail dot com. I always leave picture carousels
on Instagram, so follow the Instagram page if you like
a visual for these cases. And just always, thank you

(30:30):
so so much for listening and I'll see you again
next Monday.

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A Mountain Town's Code of Silence: The Murders of Earl and Clarissa Gonzales

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