June 13, 2023 • 53 mins
Montana Lopez was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on November 6, 1998. He was a Freshman at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Although Montana grew up in foster care, he didn’t let that stop him from pursuing his dream of earning his college degree and finding a career. He was also especially close to his 3 siblings. He had a twin sister named Juanita, a brother named Nick and his oldest sister Santeanna. Although the siblings didn’t all live together under one roof, they tried to keep in touch with each other.
Friends and family who knew Montana described him as a kind and considerate young man. He was athletic and loved going to the gym and listening to music. He had made a lot of friends while in college and had lived in a nice home with roommates just outside the Ball State campus.
On Friday June 18, 2021, Montana hosted a party at his home located at the 1300 block of West Abbott Street in Muncie. The party got loud and police were called to the scene. Montana was told to keep the noise down. Law enforcement left the home without making any arrests or shutting down the party. This wouldn’t be the last time law enforcement would visit. They would return to the residence on June 19, 2021, just after 2 a.m.
Law enforcement had received a call that someone had been shot at the residence. Montana died after being shot in the neck. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A 15-year-old teenager would be taken into custody for being involved in the shooting. However, he has since been released and faced no punishment.
According to Montana’s sister Santeanna, several people at the party had taken photos and recorded video of the carnage. Several witnesses at the party told Santeanna that they saw the 15-year-old teenager shoot Montana to death. She has had conversations with law enforcement and asked why the 15-year-old boy isn’t in custody. She said law enforcement knows the teen shot her brother, but they haven’t charged him with the killing.
If you have any information about this unsolved homicide, please contact the Muncie Police Department's criminal investigation division at 765-747-4867; Muncie Crime Stoppers at 765-286-4050, or city police dispatchers at 765-747-4838. And if you would like to view Montana’s thoughts on foster care, please visit https://fostersuccess.org/montana-lopez-the-one-thing-they-cant-take-is-my-name/
Please also visit my website for more information about my true crime and paranormal newspaper columns at www.themarcabe.com. You can also help support my podcast by purchasing a cup of $5 coffee every month. To help support the podcast, please visit https://www.buymeacoffee.com/catchmykiller. If you would like to contact me about this podcast, please visit my websites www.catchmykiller.com or www.themarcabe.com where you can submit a case.
Friends and family who knew Montana described him as a kind and considerate young man. He was athletic and loved going to the gym and listening to music. He had made a lot of friends while in college and had lived in a nice home with roommates just outside the Ball State campus.
On Friday June 18, 2021, Montana hosted a party at his home located at the 1300 block of West Abbott Street in Muncie. The party got loud and police were called to the scene. Montana was told to keep the noise down. Law enforcement left the home without making any arrests or shutting down the party. This wouldn’t be the last time law enforcement would visit. They would return to the residence on June 19, 2021, just after 2 a.m.
Law enforcement had received a call that someone had been shot at the residence. Montana died after being shot in the neck. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A 15-year-old teenager would be taken into custody for being involved in the shooting. However, he has since been released and faced no punishment.
According to Montana’s sister Santeanna, several people at the party had taken photos and recorded video of the carnage. Several witnesses at the party told Santeanna that they saw the 15-year-old teenager shoot Montana to death. She has had conversations with law enforcement and asked why the 15-year-old boy isn’t in custody. She said law enforcement knows the teen shot her brother, but they haven’t charged him with the killing.
If you have any information about this unsolved homicide, please contact the Muncie Police Department's criminal investigation division at 765-747-4867; Muncie Crime Stoppers at 765-286-4050, or city police dispatchers at 765-747-4838. And if you would like to view Montana’s thoughts on foster care, please visit https://fostersuccess.org/montana-lopez-the-one-thing-they-cant-take-is-my-name/
Please also visit my website for more information about my true crime and paranormal newspaper columns at www.themarcabe.com. You can also help support my podcast by purchasing a cup of $5 coffee every month. To help support the podcast, please visit https://www.buymeacoffee.com/catchmykiller. If you would like to contact me about this podcast, please visit my websites www.catchmykiller.com or www.themarcabe.com where you can submit a case.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:13):
Hello, and welcome to the CatchMy Killer Podcast. Thank you for listening.
My name is Mark. For nearlyeight years, I've written a weekly
newspaper column about true crime and missingpeople for the Clare Muslin newspaper in Ohio.
With a column and podcast, myobjective has always been to try to
(00:34):
bring attention the cases that haven't receivedmuch media attention, if any at all.
This week's story involves a twenty twoyear old Indiana man named Montana Lopez,
who was a beloved Ball State Collegefreshman student who had changed his major
from exercise science to social work.While hosting a party at his home,
(00:58):
Montana was shot to death some timeafter two am on June nineteenth, twenty
twenty one, in Mudzy, Indiana. The two year anniversary of his homicide
is coming up, and as ofthis recording, law enforcement has made no
arrests. Montana Lopez was born inIndianapolis, Indiana, on November sixth,
(01:27):
nineteen ninety eight. He was afreshman at Ball State University in Mudsey,
Indiana. Although Montana grew up infoster care, he never let that stop
him or pursuing his dream of earninghis college degree and finding his career.
He was also especially close to histhree siblings. He had a twin sister
(01:49):
named Juanita, a brother named Nick, and his oldest sister, Simtiana.
Although the siblings didn't all live togetherunder one roof, they always tried to
keep in touch with each other.Brinson family, who knew Montana, described
him as a kind and considerate youngman. He was athletic, loved dogs,
and enjoyed going to the gym andlistening to music. He had made
(02:14):
a lot of friends while in collegeand had lived in a nice home with
roommates just outside the Ball State campus. On Friday night, June eighteenth,
twenty twenty one, Montana hosted aparty at his home, located at the
thirteen hundred block of West Abbot Streetin Muncy. The party had gotten loud
and police were called to the scene. Montana was told to keep the noise
(02:38):
down. Law enforcement left the homewithout making any arrests or shutting down the
party. This would not be thelast time that law enforcement would visit this
party. Later that evening, lawenforcement had received a call that someone had
been shot at Montana's residence. Afterthe police returned to Montana's residence for a
(02:59):
second time, they would find himshot in the net. He was pronounced
dead at the scene. A fifteenyear old teenager would eventually be taken into
custody for being involved in Montana's shooting. However, the teenager has since been
released in his face no punishment.According to Montana's sister, Santiana, several
(03:23):
people at the party had taken photosand recorded video of the carnage. Several
witnesses at the party told Santiana thatthey had witnessed the fifteen year old teenager
shoot Montana to death. Santiana hassince had conversations with law enforcement and asked
them why the fifteen year old teenageris an in custody. She said that
(03:46):
law enforcement knows the team shot herbrother, but they have not charged him
with a homicide for now, theteam hasn't ever been officially named as a
person of interest, so he mustbe considered innocent of wrongdoing. While doing
research for Montana's story, I foundan article on a website about Montana's thoughts
(04:09):
on growing up in the foster caresystem. I would like to share his
comments to show just how passionate hewas about foster's children maintaining their roots while
in foster care. The following piececan be found on the Foster success dot
Org website for Montana, being Hispanicbrings a large sense of pride. However,
(04:34):
with that pride comes experiences of racism. Because of this, Montana has
felt the need to suppress his culture. Almost half of Who's Your Children exiting
foster care in twenty eighteen had atleast three placements. While each placement brings
its own challenges and adjustments, foryoung people in foster care or Montana,
(04:58):
each placement presented a constant struggle tostay connected to his Hispanic culture. My
experience growing up as a youth ofcolor in America was already difficult, but
on top of that, I'm ayouth that has been through the foster care
system as well. When it comesto Hispanic heritage, month yes, there
(05:19):
is cultural impact. But because Imoved between foster homes, little by little,
pieces of my Hispanic culture were strippedfor me. The one thing that
they could not take for me ismy name, Montana Lopez, a name
embedded with rich culture. I lovemy ethnicity and I love the heritage,
(05:40):
and it is something that I havebegun to embrace daily. However, from
one look at me, people sometimesthink they know who I am, where
I came from, and the hardshipsthat I have endured. One of the
hardships includes my interaction with law enforcement. When I get pulled over by a
police officer, I immediately suspect theworst and assume that just because I am
(06:04):
a person of color and have tattoos, that they will think that I am
a bad person. I always thinkthey are not there for my safety,
but rather to harass me. Itend to think that if I needed help,
police officers would first assume to arrestme rather than get me resources like
proper aid or help. They maynever even realize that even though I have
(06:28):
tattoos and I am a person ofcolor, I am a student pursuing my
bachelor's degree. Montana would like tosee youth of color at the table when
decisions are being made about changes tothe foster care system. Montana said,
I would like to see dcs approachthis issue with more diversity. Instead of
(06:48):
asking a couple of youth of color, ask them all let their voices and
struggles be heard and known. Additionally, he stated that dcs should require parents
to take diversity classes as well toensure that no matter what color or part
of the world or state a childis from, that they will all be
(07:08):
treated equally and fairly. According toMontana's family members, the loss has been
devastating. Montana and his sister Juanitawere twins, and anyone familiar with twin
siblings understands the closeness that they oftenshare. Montana was also best friends with
his brother Nick. For Montana's story, I spoke to his oldest sister,
(07:32):
Santiana Soriano and now on with Montana'sstory is told by his oldest sister,
Santiana. I guess when when wewere younger. He has a twin,
Erney his twin his name Juanita.I'm the oldest out of all four of
us that we have a younger brother. Also, our mom was addicted to
(07:55):
drugs and then we end up beingplaced with a family friend for a couple
of years, and then she wentto prison for selling drugs and then we
got back with our mom lived withher for five years. We moved around
a lot. We lived in Mexico, Texas, different places in Indiana where
(08:16):
we ended up in Munthsey and hedidn't take us into this into all the
time, and I remember we wereat the bus station and he was fighting
with my mom and my mom endup smacking him in the face and they
called the cops and we ended upgetting removed in place in foster care,
which we talked out of when wewere eighteen, so like we were in
(08:37):
it from I would just turned fourteen. They were thirteen and my youngest was
twelve. My youngest brother and we'dlived in foster care until we were eighteen.
We talked out. We were actuallysplit up. Me and my sister
lived in one home in Munthsey,and then my brother lived Gaston, Indiana,
(09:01):
and then from there me and mysister topped down. We lived in
the same home the whole entire time. My brothers eventually moved around to three
or four different foster homes, butthey went to Westdale. They were a
football player. He was a footballplayer. I'm pretty sure. There's like
a lot of pictures because they're reallygood at it. But after he graduated
(09:26):
and think my brother were in areally bad crack and he ended up breaking
his back and so the bottom halfof his back was metal like place.
I'm pretty sure. So he hada rough time after that because he couldn't
do much. He loved to beat the gym, loved he loved to
be with his friends. Honestly,I'm pretty sure I found like a lot
(09:48):
of articles where people made because hewent to not one ball state, but
think he went to Purdue in FortWayne. He had so many friends that
there were so many posts about howeverybody just loved him, like so many
more people than I ever even thoughtof, Like I even knew I didn't
know half the people at his funeralwhile in foster care. Were you all
able to keep in touch with eachother during your separation, Yeah, we
(10:11):
were. It was just kind ofhard for the simple fact that schedules didn't
match up, or one foster parentdidn't want to take us or the other
one when we were to have ourmeat and stuff like that. So we
were able to, but it wassomething that wasn't like something that would I
guess you say, should have happened, didn't really happen like our regular cake
being in touch. It would belike sometimes a month or two that we
(10:33):
didn't get to see our brothers ata time or sometimes more, but we
would go to obviously talk on thephone and things like that, but it
just honestly just depended. Now I'mguessing that living in foster care changed the
family dynamics because let's say, withyou all being separated and not living together
(10:56):
under the same roof as a familyliney, you had to changed away things
were in your family. Is thatcorrect exactly? Yes, because we grew
up together. Yeah, we wereso close, and then we got from
Boster Carret And I'm guessing that theseparation must have been really difficult for Montana
(11:18):
because from what I understand, hewas really close to his brother and his
twin sister, and then of coursehe has a relationship with you. But
it sounds like he was really familyoriented, so to be separated from those
that he loved the most must havebeen a really traumatic experience for him.
(11:39):
Because he was fairly young when thishappened. It was very difficult, especially
for him because he always felt guiltythough it was all his fall. I
actually found the paper after he possiblyonly went to his stuff like a letter
like just that he had written likea paper he had written where he just
was like he had put in therethat he was sorry and that he felt
like us being separated family being separatedwas all his fault, and he thought
(12:03):
that everybody put the blame on himbecause it was him and my mom got
into a fight which caused us allto get separated. Was he correct in
his line of thinking? I mean, I know you all were kind of
young, So did you all blamehim for the separation? I'm thinking his
adults with looking back. Of courseshe wouldn't blame him, but it's a
time you all were kids, andyou know how kids can be petty,
(12:26):
So did you all blame him forbeing separated and place into foster care?
Honestly, no, like we werekids, so obviously when we were younger,
we probably did put the blame onthem. But if I would have
known he still thought that way,I would let him know that my life
is a lot better since the simplefact that we were putting foster care because
our mom was an alcoholic, shedid drugs, she was very abusive,
(12:52):
and I was going down the wrongpath. Because I didn't have parents that
cared. Being put in foster care, I was able to so much more.
My life is so much more nowthan what it would have been if
I would have stayed at home.Honestly, thanks to him I have a
good life, and I didn't knowhe felt that way, or I would
have let him know, like,don't feel that way. You honestly saved
(13:15):
us that at one incident. Now, tell me about his experience and foster
care. Did he ever share withyou any of his thoughts about it,
I mean whether it was a goodexperience or bad experience. So I know
the first foster home that he wasin, they still are very close to
my other brother, and they werereally close to him, and he called
(13:37):
the parents mom and dad. ButI don't know. I know that being
there, he got involved with alot of different drugs and alcohol. Because
even though my mom was a badmom, she does one thing she didn't
really like. It wasn't something thatwas allowed. I guess you should say
they allowed a lot more than whatshould have been allowed as a kid.
(14:01):
I guess you said there as ateam. But I know they were removed
from that home, and I didn'tknow they didn't have that good of experience
the other home. I don't knowall the details because I don't really ask.
They don't tell everything, and weweren't really close either because since they
were allowed to do drinking. Ohcall I don't do nothing like that.
(14:22):
So and then everybody they looked atme like their mom. I guess you
said. That's even my brother,even says Alex. They looked at me
and were a mom figure than theyview as a sibling. So they don't
really tell me that much. Now. Has Montana's death brought you and your
other two siblings closer or have youall become distant with each other? Because
(14:45):
in many cases, when there's adeath of the immediate family, it really
makes a lot of changes in thefamily structure. Whereas sometimes it will bring
an entire family together, it canalso tear the family apart and drive everyone
away. So when somebody dies inthe immediate family, it could go either
(15:07):
way. Did this bring your familytogether closer or did it push you all
away from each other? Yeah,so it does. It's not too much
of a difference. We all stillhave our own lives. I know.
It's like really messed with our livesa lot. Like my sister obviously,
that was her twin, that wasthat's the other half of her and my
(15:28):
brother that was his best friend.That's the one person that they were together
all the time, no matter what. So it's hard to explain, like,
I feel like we all have ourown different feelings, and me and
my sister we don't always show ourfeelings. So my brother, I feel
like hurt him so much more thanit's hurt the rest of us. But
(15:52):
I I feel like it's the samefor us. We just we all just
have our own lives. I guessyou say, And how was your brother
when he passed away? I mean, he was a pretty young guy,
wasn't he like twenty one or twentytwo something like that. I know he
was in his early twenties. Hewas twenty I think twenty one when twenty
(16:14):
twenty one when he passed away,because I'm twenty Yes, I think that's
right. I'm pretty sorry twenty ortwenty one. And where do you consider
home? Do you consider munths Hehome or is it some other place in
Indiana? We were technically more fromAnderson. So were you all born in
(16:34):
Anderson? Then? I was,Me and my sister and my brother were
born in Indy. But I thinkthat had to something to do with the
because they were like twins and stufflike that. But most of our life
we were in Anderson. Oh,Okay, Andy, I'm very familiar with
it. I grew up there.Yeah, yeah, so I'm real familiar
with Andy. I grew up onthe East Side. I went to high
(16:56):
school out there, and when Iwas able to leave, I left.
So I ended up going to Ohio. But my family still lives in Indianapolis
and they seem to be content there. But it just wasn't for me.
I couldn't wait to leave. Yeah, understandable. I mean even today,
(17:18):
the East Side of Indie is consideredone of the most dangerous areas in America.
It was like that when I livedthere, and from what I understand,
not much has changed. So forme, definitely, moving away was
the best choice for me and myfamily. Yeah, I've seen things about
(17:38):
that. And let me ask youabout Montana. From high school, he
played football. I believe is thatcorrect because I saw pictures of him wearing
a high school football uniform. Sowas that something he really enjoyed doing?
Playing football? Yeah? Was thereany interests in him playing college football?
(18:00):
Oh? That, I don't know. We had a relationship. It was
his back closest rounds like those timesof the years. I know. He
played soccer until his senior up tohis seat wall. He graduated play he
did wrestling also, him and bothof my brothers did. I honestly don't
know if he wanted to play incollege, and I'm guessing that even if
(18:21):
he did want to play college football, he may not have been able to
because now he did suffer a majorback injury, correct from a car accident?
Was this stur in college or didthis happen before college? I don't
think he was in college yet.I think it was after they had graduated,
not too long. Well, amajor back injury will definitely keep you
(18:45):
from playing football. Yeah, yeah, I can't do a lot of stuff
after that, right, And whatbrought him to Ball State? Was there
a particular reason why he wanted togo there? I mean, you haven't
in university out there, which isa pretty good school as well. So
why Ball State that? I don'tknow. I think it's I had asked
(19:10):
Santiana about why her brother decided toremain in Indiana to attend college. We
will take a short break and returnwith her thoughts on her brother's college experience
and what led him to choosing BallState University as his college of choice.
(19:41):
Oh, okay, so he wantedto stay in Munsey and just stay in
the local area. When a lotof kids graduate from high school and they're
ready to go to college outside oftheir state, you know, they want
to get as far away as theirfamily as possible. I mean, we've
all knew those people. But thenyou have some that want to stay home
and to the local school, likefor instance, my youngest son when he
(20:03):
finished high school, he went toUniversity Cincinnati, which is local and where
a lot of the kids go afterthey get out of high school. But
you do have those who want to, you know, travel, maybe go
to a college outside of the country. But I see with your brother,
he just wanted to stay local andprobably be near his friends and family.
(20:25):
That's what sounds like. Yeah,I know he wants to Fort Wayne for
a while, and I know ithe really, honestly, deep down didn't
only like it for the simple factthat he wasn't around nobody like family wise,
because I know one year I pickedhim up for I think it was
Thanksgiving, because he hadn't won,no way to get home for Thanksgiving,
(20:47):
and too nobody was lipped them becauseeverybody had already left to go with their
families. So me and my husbandand our kids strat into the car and
we drove all the way up thereand picked him up and he spent Thanksgiving
with family with us. That so, I think that when he came back
from Fort Wayne, he just Ithink family is what kept on close.
(21:07):
And what did your brother want tostudy at Ball State? Through my research,
I saw something about some type ofsports, and then I saw something
about social work. So he hadmaybe changed his mind about what he wanted
to do, or maybe he wasn'tquite sure. What do you think he
wanted to do or what did hewant to go to school for. I
(21:30):
think it was physical therapy. Ithink it was because I know he was
doing with criminal justice for a whileand then he ended up switching, and
I think it was physical therapy.I can't even remember. It was something
like that, something that had todo with like therapy, I'm pretty sure.
And tell me about where he lived. I read that he had lived
(21:52):
just off the campus in an apartmentor something like that. Actually it was
a house. It was all staterental, Okay. And did he like
those accommodations? I think he did. His house was really nice. He
was really happy when he moved inthere. He was talking us all about
it. He got so excited.I got a nice house with his friends.
(22:15):
Yeah. I watched an interview witha couple of his neighbor friends and
it was two girls, and theysaid that they just absolutely loved him.
They said he was one of thekindest young men that they had ever known,
and he was a great neighbor.Yeah. Yeah, everybody loved him.
Honestly, he could be a jerk. I'm gonna why if you were
asked me my brother was nasshol Well, to be fair to your brother.
(22:37):
We can all be jerks at sometime or another. We can't be lovable
all the time, right, Buthe was super fleet and everybody loved him.
When we had his funeral, therewere so many people that and I
everybody sit into the room as afuneral, there are people sitting on the
floor. I didn't know half ofthem. It was just all people that
he came across the life that trulyseeing the good side of him and seeing
(23:03):
like he's a good person. Iwas happy that so many people like he
was had so many people in hislife. But I was just like,
honestly super surprised, like just exactlyhow many, Like I mean, half
the people don't even get to showup because there are obviously not everybody can
come. Now, when was thelast time that you actually had a chance
(23:23):
to speak to your brother before hedied? Honestly, the weekend before,
I'm pretty sure it wanted we allgot together at Mollends Park and we had
sandwiches and let the kids play outsideor out in the park and we all
just sat down and just had agood time at Mallaens Park. And I'm
(23:44):
pretty sure it was the weekend beforebecause you're making plans to do fathers because
he passed their Father's Day weekend.We were planned on getting together that weekend
and doing something together because it's whatour plan was because honestly, with life,
we honestly of all just like wedidn't get together as much as we
used to because we used to alwaystry to get like Sunday breakfast at my
(24:06):
house or something. We always tryto get together somewhere, and we had
him been able to with everything wehad so much going on. So our
plan was to start doing something onthe weekend Saturday or Sunday, and that's
what we are planning to do thenext weekend, which is Father's Day weekend.
Do you remember there being anything significantin your last conversation with him,
(24:30):
was or anything that he wanted toget off his chest or anything important like
that, Maybe something he wanted toconfide in you about. I'm pretty sure
we were talking about getting together.Oh. I think we may have had
text messages throughout that week because wehave a family group trat that we text
(24:52):
in all the time. Now,do you know if your brother had anything
going on? Is the law lifewhereas maybe something that he was concerned about,
or did he have any type offears that he may have told you
about, For instance, maybe therewas someone out there who had threatened him,
or he was worried may try toharm him, or anything along those
(25:15):
lines. It's not really. Ithink the week before he died, he
did get into a fight with acouple of the kids, with the guys
that he was always with that helived with him because he was kicking them
out or something because they weren't paying. And then I know they had cameras
put up because his house was robbed. But other than not, not really.
(25:40):
So you're saying that it wasn't anythingthat was so bad that he needed
to go to law enforcement for helpwith nothing like that. No, just
to the fact that I think hedid obviously make the reports when his house
was robbed, but I think whenthe other guys they got into a fight
with him idel and they called thecops. Okay, and how did you
(26:04):
find out that your brother had passedaway? Tell me about that. I
think it was like three or fourin the morning, and my phone kept
bringing and it finally woke me up, and it was my sister and my
brother. They kept calling me.My sister was at work at the time,
and my brother actually was on hisweight to his house. And because
(26:26):
I guess my brother, he hadcalled my brother and said they're something about
they're gonna jump him or something tocome help, that he needed help.
So my brothers jumped in his carand was headed there. And when he
had got there, he had seenpolice, so he said he got the
police game and shut down the party. He said he went to the gas
(26:47):
station and they came back, andthat's when he realized it was what had
happened, that somebody had got shotor something like that, and they put
him in the back of a policecar and took him to the police station.
Even though he was even there whenall that happened. Be pulled up
when the cops are already there.They were calling me and calling me,
and then I finally heard my phone. I answered, and they or trying
(27:08):
to tell me that my brother wasshot in the next that I need to
figure out where he was or whatwas going on, because me, I'm
the big sister like they like.They always told me, I'm the mother
like to them almost. So Istarted calling the hospitals. Nobody had him.
I didn't know where he was,and all I couldn't do. I
(27:29):
was like, Oh, I hadto get get to Munthy. So I
went and picked up the lady weused to live with her kids. I
went there to pick my little cousinso she could watch my kids so my
husband could take me to Munthy becauseI was in the state to drive.
So she end up going with us, and on the way there, I
was calling around trying to figure outwhat was going on, and then my
brother was at the police station,and I was on the phone with my
(27:52):
aunt trying to get her she livesin Ohio, trying to tell her what
was going on, to try andfigure out what it like. She was
starting. She said she was gonnatry and start calling and We're trying to
figure out what was going on.And my brother finally called me back again
and he was just like told methat he he was like, I'm sorry,
sis, but they study's dead.And I don't know, like there
(28:15):
was something already in me that knewthat before I even was on my way
to Monthe. When I got thephone call, I just I just knew.
It was just like a feeling inme, like I didn't want it
to be true, but I knewit just I don't know, is I
just knew. So I told myaunt, and my aunt drew badway here
from Ohio and by the time Igot to the police station, the corner
(28:37):
had already was just and walking upas I was walking up, and he
was showing my brother a picture ofmy blur's hand with a tattoo and was
having my brother identify him. Andthat's how I found out. And they
had a whole bunch of people therebecause it was a party, and from
what I have read during my research, basically everything's started from that party.
(29:00):
On that Friday night that your brotherhad, people were jumping off the roof
and jumping into the pool, andthey were getting loud and then the police
showed up and asked him to turnthe music down. Does that sound about
right? Yeah? After Montana waskilled, law enforcement would eventually arrest a
(29:22):
fifteen year old teenager for being involvedin the shooting death of Montana. The
teenager would be released and not officiallycharged with Montana's death. We will take
a final break and return with SanPiana's final thoughts on the suspected killer and
life without her brother. Can youtell me more about the initial call that
(29:56):
law enforcement received. Why were theysent to the party? Based on my
research, I have deducted that itwas based mostly on noise in the typical
things that you would expect to seeat a party with college students. Well,
supposedly the police came and they thenthey home turned down the music or
(30:18):
something, which, Honestly, ifthe police would have done their jobs,
then I don't think any of itwould have happened, because there was under
age drinking there. If they wouldhave shut down the party, my brother
probably would have got arrested, butat least you wouldn't be dead. But
I'd feel the police failed him thenbecause they didn't do their job. Like,
as a police and you're coming toa party. Why aren't you checking
(30:41):
id seeing that there's alcohol, seeingthat like there's it's ball states they're partying,
Like obviously there's so many parties ballwhere they get they're under age drinkers
there, Like I just like atthat point, like when I found that
out, I felt like police Montypolice failed him there for the fact that
they didn't do their job and puttingthis party to stop. But they did
(31:04):
arrive then and then I don't knowwhat all happened between them, and I've
been told so many different things.Supposedly, these kids came and they went
inside my brother's house and my brothertold them to get out because the party
was out because he had been recentlyrobbed and he didn't want to let it
inside the house. And that oneof the kids pulled a guns in and
(31:26):
they, like I guess, sothe couple people got him to calm down,
they put the gun away, andthose people called more people to come.
The police know who killed my brother. They've already arrested him. One.
So the alleged shooter was a fifteenyear old teenager I believe. Oh
he's either fifteen or sixteen. Yeah, they know who he is. Yes,
the media has described the arrest ofa fifteen year old boy, but
(31:52):
they don't reveal his name. Yeah, we lived named the day he died
because everybody came to us and toldus there. I have so many message
and phone calls then people like wastelling me everybody's name that was involved with
my brother's killing. I've watched thevideos, so there were definitely witnesses.
Then there was tons of witnesses.And that's why I don't get why nothing's
(32:15):
being done, for the fact thatthey have names of all the witnesses.
The girl came to me and mybrother's blue release them was like, I
watched them kill your brother. Iwatched your brother fall to the ground and
recorded with names and everything and givento the police. And I asked them
about it and they're like, oh, we don't know what you're talking about.
How do you not know? Youwere given the recording of this girl
(32:35):
literally saying she watched it all happen. I've watched the video when they killed
my brother. There's kids running tothem, like when they were fighting.
To supposed it was a fight andmy brother had bruises and stuff all over
him. They ran over there.I watched the video and the next you
know, they're shooting and all thekids are running away from the shooting.
There were so many witnesses and nothing'sbeing done. They're just throwing under the
bush like nothing. And they knowwho did it. That's the part.
(33:00):
They know who did it. Theylet him go. He was the one
that everybody said that actually killed mybrother. He was the one that was
arrested. And everybody that came tous that was supposedly witnesses, there's supposedly
no witnesses that's seen it happen.His name was the one thing that kept
coming up. They would want toactually killed my brother. He's the one
that did it. He's the onethat did it. And they arrested him
(33:23):
and they were supposed to be playedthe day before his court hearing to be
charged as an adult. They hadto go through the court to be able
to charge him as an adult,to charge him go the day before.
Why was he released? They saidthat the judge thought there wasn't enough evidence.
But like I said, how isthere not enough evidence when you have
(33:43):
tons and tons of witnesses. There'svideos, so many videos. Everybody knows
he did it. That's the problem. And they don't care like they know
everybody that was involved, because therewas more than one person involved, and
I literally knew that their names theday he died. Like I said,
I have so many messages on phonecalls that day. This is the person
who killed it, this is thepeople that were with them. I have
(34:04):
the video footage of my brother's camera, like I watched, and I like
people of lives, there was alsolive like the only one person there that
my brother and my brother said heknew was only one person that my brother
could identify, like truly identify.And he even lied conpe to what everybody
when this video footage that he toldeverybody that he watched the cops try to
revive my brothers the boat. Inthe videos, he literally left before the
(34:28):
cops got there. He didn't evengo look we did in the video he
said, oh, where's Montana wantto corn? They left, didn't even
look from to me. The oneperson that would have been there and that
should have been there to help him, he just stood there way everybody was
watching him get beat up and getkilled. He stood there in front of
my brother's garage like nothing's happening,and I was like, there's soon.
(34:50):
But every you can watch in thevideo, you no one looked there starting
to fight because everybody starts running towardsthem, and then next thing you know,
you just hear all these shots andyou see him in the video and
everybody's running away. Now, haveyou personally seen video images of the shooter
and all the videos that you've watched, have you actually seen the suspected teenager
(35:14):
in any of those of the sugarI honestly didn't. I don't really see
them in there because I, likeyou said, it's like of the videos
I have are mainly of when itall was going down, and it wasn't
like the camera wasn't exactly on that, but there was a lot of people
recording, so somebody has the videosout there because there everybody has so many
(35:37):
recording There are so many naptab videos, so many recordings, and I'm sure
if the cops really wanted to,they probably could get the videos if they
really were do their jobs. Atthis point, they're not doing their job
because they don't even care about theeye witnesses with the recording the names.
Oh, you asked them and they'relike, oh, I've heard about it.
I've had one one of the detectivessay, oh, I heard about
(35:59):
it, but this girl came infront of me and my brothers and she
told me stritched my face. Iwatched her brother fall to the ground.
Like, how do you not haveit? Have you been able to keep
in touch with anyone that actually witnessedyour brother's shooting? No, I don't.
I don't know a lot of hisfriends. I don't know any of
them that was there. I onlyknow one person that was there at the
(36:20):
time it happened, and he liedto people, and I didn't know it
was a lie until like the actualvideo footage, because he told everybody that
he was there the whole entire time. He was next to my brother for
whatever when they were doing cops triedto do CPR or something on him,
like the people from the ambulance,And it's not true because he in the
video that clearly shows he didn't eventried to help my brother, not one
(36:43):
way. He literally just stood therein front of the garage, and then
he got into his car and leftbefore the cops even showed up. And
then a year later he messaged meand tried to tell me that he didn't
think this. It was this personit was this person. I'm like,
he won't and helping my brother,and you lied about it, like I
don't believe you, no credibility inyour eyes. No, And my brother
(37:07):
literally got to a fight with himthe week before. So sometimes it just
makes me wonder if maybe he hadsomething to do with it. It does
like it has ever since, Likemy brother died and was murdered, and
I watched that video after I heardwhat he said he was telling everybody,
and then I watched that video.It just makes me wonder if he had
something to deal with it. SinceI watched that video, just something in
(37:29):
the back of my mind. Hehas to know something. There's no way
that you call my brother your friend, you who lived with him so many
years together, we're friends, andyou just let him get beat up.
And this was another way around.My brother would have helped and defended him.
He didn't even care. Did youtell me anything else about what caused
(37:52):
the altercation? I know you hadsaid something about people entering your brother's home
and he asked them to leave andthey got angry at him. Is that
the main reason why this happened,or is there maybe something personal that happened
before the party. What we've beentold it was because they went and they
(38:14):
went to the house and my brotherdidn't want anybody in the house. That's
all we really know. There hasn'treally been another story is why it could
have happened. That's the a storythat we've been told is that kids went
gone to the house. He toldhim they need to get out. They
pulled a gun, They calmed himdown. The kids went out and they
caused up friends and supposedly they're ina gang in month see, like one
(38:37):
of the gangs that are supposedly aroundmonths see. So it definitely doesn't sound
like there was a good reason foryour brother to be killed. But then
there's never a good reason to killanyone. No. Never, can you
tell me about any recent conversations withlaw enforcement? Have they given you any
updates or anything useful about the case? Every time I call, very either
(39:02):
not an office or they don't knowor they don't have an update. So
depends on who I talk to you, if I talked to the victim's advocate,
which if who they always send meetto you. Can I never get
a call back And it's the samething over and over again. They don't
tell me nothing. I've talked toyou one detective who I was able to
(39:22):
ask questions too, and he didn'tknow when I even asked about the recordings
of the eye witness that was tellingus all the names, that was like
literally was standing there and talk tome at my brother's blue and Release and
had told me that she watched mybrother get killed. And he was like,
oh, I heard about it,but I don't know. That's all
they can give me. Do youhave that young lady's contact information? I
(39:45):
don't, and I don't have theand I don't have the recording. Other
people recorded it and I've asked forthe recording, but the girl that recorded
it, so she don't have it. She doesn't have it anymore. But
it was taken to the police.And what is the name of the lawn
enforcement agency that is handling this case? Monthy it's a Monthy police department.
(40:06):
It would be them. Yeah,but they don't ever even tell me anything.
I asked him all the time,like and I just get all the
same answers, and I just like, like, that's what makes me feel
more too, that they just havethrown down the back burner and like they
get no fleshing the fact because theyknow who did it, and they have
so many witnesses, and I feellike this is a case I should have
already been closed. So many witnesses, they know who did it, and
(40:29):
it wasn't drive by shooting or something, and they were literally or out.
They were biding my brother, andlike I was, like more than one
my brother well honestly could have justkicked him in the back and left him
at that because he would have voluntaround. That's how Maddie were like he
had a broken back as they literallybeat him and then shot him. So
(40:50):
tell me about what you have beendoing on your own to try to get
justice for your brother. Do youcontact your local media? Do you have
a Facebook page? Do you havea TikTok account? Tell me about what
you've been doing to bring attention tothis case. We have a Facebook page,
I have a family, and Iwork by myself, so it's hard
(41:13):
for me. I do a lotof things. So the most fact that
I don't really have much. Ifeel like I don't how much sport.
We've been in a parade in months. See I've made flyers when I passed
a lot of flyers out around theparade, I do a Facebook post.
I've been trying to raise money fora reward for anybody that does come forward
(41:35):
with any type of information or anybodythat was actually there. I don't really
care who you are like this,as long as you can help us get
them put behind bars. And what'sthe title of your Facebook page? It's
a Justice for Montana, okay.And my suggestion for you would be to
do everything you can to keep yourbrother's story alive, as you are already
(42:00):
doing. Go to the media,your local papers, your local news media
outlets, and just request that maybeon certain anniversaries they bring up your brother's
case, for instance, the anniversaryof his death which is coming up soon,
or on his birthday, most typeof things. But it's important for
you to reach out to people andjust try to make sure that no one
(42:24):
ever forgets about your brother, becauseyou never want your loved one to ever
be forgotten. You want to keepthat name out in the media constantly.
I've messaged the Stars Pressed before andthey they didn't really message me back.
They even put information in the newspaperand I messaged him to let them know.
(42:46):
You obviously don't have to update informationbecause it on there said he was
arrested. I said, the kid'sbeen released, like he's on the roads,
like doing who knows what, attendingschool probably who knows. They had
a couple of people to tell methat he shot up a house, so
hughting like he's dangerous, like datdecided like he's a arrested. He's not
(43:07):
arrested. He's running the streets.And that's what I did in the paper,
firing for It's a Monty parade,like I put in there. Your
kids should be sitting next to thiskid in school and you don't know it
because I recally can't say his namebecause he's a kid trachnically, but he's
not an adult, right because unlesshe's been publicly named by law enforcement as
(43:30):
a suspect, then you really can'tsay that person's name because you could face
legal ramifications if you do. AndI have seen that happen. I know
families get emotional and they feel likethey know what happened to their loved one,
but making accusations without proof can bedetrimental to that person's name, So
(43:55):
you always want to keep that inthe back of your mind. Exactly,
you can't say his name, andthey released him the day before he was
going to be an adult court.If they would have got him to adult
court, he would still probably walkup still. But his name was Poppy
public because the fact that he hasbeen tried to as an adult. Well,
statistically speaking, when these kind ofguys commit murders, they don't always
(44:21):
stop at one. So it's highlylikely that to do it again. Right.
Unfortunately, the way the law works, you have to kill someone before
law enforcement will actually do anything.It's like with restraining orders, they're basically
just paper. You can follow allthe restraining orders that you want against someone,
(44:42):
you can lock the guy up forviolating it, it doesn't matter.
But until that person actually kills youor kills someone else, law enforcement really
can't do anything about it. Evenif they suspect that the guy's going to
probably way commit a murder, can'tarrest anybody for thinking about it. And
(45:04):
that's sad because the cops know whohe is, the cops know he did
it. The cops have the evidence, and they have witnesses, but they
don't want to use them to putthem back. And what's sad is all
these school shootings and he's probably attendingsport. I'm just like when I feel
hopefully he doesn't try to shoot somebodyat school or do something like that if
he is going to school and justit's just scary because he's you're messing with
(45:25):
other kids's lives. We're not puttinghim behind bars where he belongs, because
if he's shot, somebody killed,somebody wants he supposedly, if it is
true, shot a house a weekor two weeks before this, which I
was told by multiple people that wasgiving the information. They were telling the
information even where he was hiding,like I knew it on Like I had
the information probably before the cops,because everybody was messaging me abow to that
(45:50):
day and like people I don't evenknow, they just knew that I was
his sister. I would recommend thatyou save any correspondence that you have received
from different people about your brothers onthe side, because you never know it
could come in useful one day.I did. I have screenshots and I've
sent them to them, but Ido I have everything well, and I
(46:12):
hate to say this, but eventhough you gave everything that you have to
law enforcement, they are known tolose things. So if they were to
have lost whatever you have sent themand worked to come back to you later
and say that they lost it,and they need to know if you have
copies. That's a reality. Justkeep everything. And that's what the frustrating
(46:36):
part is. They does act likethey're not interested to put away a criminal.
Yeah, that's bad because there's somany witnesses, so many people.
I have the videos, so manypeople were there. I have videos they
were taking. Why the part isgoing on from Snapchat I've had. I
have the video from the chemera onethat happened. Like I just there's just
(46:58):
so many videos, so many forthere to many people that could have stepped
in and try to stop. They'recalled the cop. Nobody did anything.
They just watched it all happen.Unfortunately, in today's society, that's a
reality. Whenever a train wreck happens. Instead of trying to help anyone,
people will just get out their phonesand start recording. And that's why I
(47:21):
know there's a recording somewhere, becausethere's no way. There are so many
people that were there and they wererecording all these other videos. There was
no way that there's not recording ofthem killing my brother somewhere around. Yes,
And that's why I'm hoping that someonewill hear this podcast and feel the
(47:42):
pain that your experience and the lossof your brother, and that individual will
come forward and talk to the police. I mean someone with really intimate knowledge
of what happened, and someone whopossibly know the alleged shooter on a more
personal basis. I truly hope so. And that's what's great about podcasts.
(48:07):
You never know who's going to listen, and you never know what person might
have important information who never shared itbefore, but after hearing the podcast,
they might realize that maybe they knowsomething that was important. You just never
(48:28):
can tell with people. And anotherthing I didn't want to ask you is
can you share a favorite moment withyour brother? Honestly, it's a hard
one because we always try to dostuff as family, and our biggest thing
was trying to always get together forsomeday breakfast. Okay, well, then
let me rephrase that question. Tellme something that he did that was really
(48:52):
so funny or just goofy that youwill never forget about it. We are
kids. He got into one ofmy outfit, my dresses, and he
posed with my dress. I havethe picture and I will never forget it.
And dressing up even I think evenput lipstick only I'll never forget it.
(49:15):
We were kids, yeah, Imean, I'm sure that if you
asked a lot of people about thingslike that, that's probably not uncommon.
I mean, I think I canremember when I was a kid putting on
my mom's wigs. My brothers andI would do that. We would put
on our wigs or put on mymom's clothes and act goofy. We did
those kinds of things. It wasalways fine. So it's good that you
(49:37):
have something really funny to remember yourbrother buy that you can always share with
your kids one day. So andthe last question that I would have for
you is for anyone out there that'slistening to the sound of your voice,
if they know anything about what happenedto Montana, what would you say to
(49:58):
that person or person if you couldspeak to them. Honestly, I've always
said if they know anything, tocontact the police or even contact me.
And my information is out there,especially if you follow my brother's page that
I've made, or even his Facebookpage. I post on it all the
time. Just contact somebody, letthem know. And honestly, like I've
(50:21):
told everybody, if you don't Ihope it doesn't let you sleep, because
this is something that's ruining people,our family's live. It's daily like,
it's something that it's a heartache thatwill never go away. So I've told
everybody, if you know something,I honestly hope it interrupt your sleep every
night interview too, because you're inthey're going to hurt somebody else, and
that's going to be on the peoplethat don't turn it in anything. You're
(50:44):
gonna feel guilty for not turning itin because if you could turn it in
now and save somebody else's life,like, that's all we really want.
We want put ups and this doesn'thappen to somebody else. And that concludes
Montana Lopez, who's shot and killedthis young man nearly two years ago.
(51:04):
He was beloved by so many friendsand family members. He didn't have any
enemies or serious disputes with anyone thatcould have led to his death. If
you're listening to this podcast and havea tip, I encourage you to please
contact law enforcement and help remove akiller from the streets. If you have
any information about this unsolved homicide,please contact the Monsey Police Department's Criminal Investigation
(51:30):
Division at seven six five seven fourseven four eight six seven, or contact
Monthy Crime Stoppers at seven six fivetwo eight six four zero five zero or
city police dispatchers at seven six fiveseven four seven four eight three eight.
(51:52):
And if you would like to viewMontana's thoughts on foster care, please visit
the Foster success dot org website.I will be sure to provide this information
in the case story notes. Andif you are a parent, law enforcement
official, friend, or relative seekand justice for an unsolved commicide case,
(52:12):
please visit my website and complete thecontact form. You can also contact me
through Facebook. Thank you for listening
Hello, and welcome to the CatchMy Killer Podcast. Thank you for listening.
My name is Mark. For nearlyeight years, I've written a weekly
newspaper column about true crime and missingpeople for the Clare Muslin newspaper in Ohio.
With a column and podcast, myobjective has always been to try to
(00:34):
bring attention the cases that haven't receivedmuch media attention, if any at all.
This week's story involves a twenty twoyear old Indiana man named Montana Lopez,
who was a beloved Ball State Collegefreshman student who had changed his major
from exercise science to social work.While hosting a party at his home,
(00:58):
Montana was shot to death some timeafter two am on June nineteenth, twenty
twenty one, in Mudzy, Indiana. The two year anniversary of his homicide
is coming up, and as ofthis recording, law enforcement has made no
arrests. Montana Lopez was born inIndianapolis, Indiana, on November sixth,
(01:27):
nineteen ninety eight. He was afreshman at Ball State University in Mudsey,
Indiana. Although Montana grew up infoster care, he never let that stop
him or pursuing his dream of earninghis college degree and finding his career.
He was also especially close to histhree siblings. He had a twin sister
(01:49):
named Juanita, a brother named Nick, and his oldest sister, Simtiana.
Although the siblings didn't all live togetherunder one roof, they always tried to
keep in touch with each other.Brinson family, who knew Montana, described
him as a kind and considerate youngman. He was athletic, loved dogs,
and enjoyed going to the gym andlistening to music. He had made
(02:14):
a lot of friends while in collegeand had lived in a nice home with
roommates just outside the Ball State campus. On Friday night, June eighteenth,
twenty twenty one, Montana hosted aparty at his home, located at the
thirteen hundred block of West Abbot Streetin Muncy. The party had gotten loud
and police were called to the scene. Montana was told to keep the noise
(02:38):
down. Law enforcement left the homewithout making any arrests or shutting down the
party. This would not be thelast time that law enforcement would visit this
party. Later that evening, lawenforcement had received a call that someone had
been shot at Montana's residence. Afterthe police returned to Montana's residence for a
(02:59):
second time, they would find himshot in the net. He was pronounced
dead at the scene. A fifteenyear old teenager would eventually be taken into
custody for being involved in Montana's shooting. However, the teenager has since been
released in his face no punishment.According to Montana's sister, Santiana, several
(03:23):
people at the party had taken photosand recorded video of the carnage. Several
witnesses at the party told Santiana thatthey had witnessed the fifteen year old teenager
shoot Montana to death. Santiana hassince had conversations with law enforcement and asked
them why the fifteen year old teenageris an in custody. She said that
(03:46):
law enforcement knows the team shot herbrother, but they have not charged him
with a homicide for now, theteam hasn't ever been officially named as a
person of interest, so he mustbe considered innocent of wrongdoing. While doing
research for Montana's story, I foundan article on a website about Montana's thoughts
(04:09):
on growing up in the foster caresystem. I would like to share his
comments to show just how passionate hewas about foster's children maintaining their roots while
in foster care. The following piececan be found on the Foster success dot
Org website for Montana, being Hispanicbrings a large sense of pride. However,
(04:34):
with that pride comes experiences of racism. Because of this, Montana has
felt the need to suppress his culture. Almost half of Who's Your Children exiting
foster care in twenty eighteen had atleast three placements. While each placement brings
its own challenges and adjustments, foryoung people in foster care or Montana,
(04:58):
each placement presented a constant struggle tostay connected to his Hispanic culture. My
experience growing up as a youth ofcolor in America was already difficult, but
on top of that, I'm ayouth that has been through the foster care
system as well. When it comesto Hispanic heritage, month yes, there
(05:19):
is cultural impact. But because Imoved between foster homes, little by little,
pieces of my Hispanic culture were strippedfor me. The one thing that
they could not take for me ismy name, Montana Lopez, a name
embedded with rich culture. I lovemy ethnicity and I love the heritage,
(05:40):
and it is something that I havebegun to embrace daily. However, from
one look at me, people sometimesthink they know who I am, where
I came from, and the hardshipsthat I have endured. One of the
hardships includes my interaction with law enforcement. When I get pulled over by a
police officer, I immediately suspect theworst and assume that just because I am
(06:04):
a person of color and have tattoos, that they will think that I am
a bad person. I always thinkthey are not there for my safety,
but rather to harass me. Itend to think that if I needed help,
police officers would first assume to arrestme rather than get me resources like
proper aid or help. They maynever even realize that even though I have
(06:28):
tattoos and I am a person ofcolor, I am a student pursuing my
bachelor's degree. Montana would like tosee youth of color at the table when
decisions are being made about changes tothe foster care system. Montana said,
I would like to see dcs approachthis issue with more diversity. Instead of
(06:48):
asking a couple of youth of color, ask them all let their voices and
struggles be heard and known. Additionally, he stated that dcs should require parents
to take diversity classes as well toensure that no matter what color or part
of the world or state a childis from, that they will all be
(07:08):
treated equally and fairly. According toMontana's family members, the loss has been
devastating. Montana and his sister Juanitawere twins, and anyone familiar with twin
siblings understands the closeness that they oftenshare. Montana was also best friends with
his brother Nick. For Montana's story, I spoke to his oldest sister,
(07:32):
Santiana Soriano and now on with Montana'sstory is told by his oldest sister,
Santiana. I guess when when wewere younger. He has a twin,
Erney his twin his name Juanita.I'm the oldest out of all four of
us that we have a younger brother. Also, our mom was addicted to
(07:55):
drugs and then we end up beingplaced with a family friend for a couple
of years, and then she wentto prison for selling drugs and then we
got back with our mom lived withher for five years. We moved around
a lot. We lived in Mexico, Texas, different places in Indiana where
(08:16):
we ended up in Munthsey and hedidn't take us into this into all the
time, and I remember we wereat the bus station and he was fighting
with my mom and my mom endup smacking him in the face and they
called the cops and we ended upgetting removed in place in foster care,
which we talked out of when wewere eighteen, so like we were in
(08:37):
it from I would just turned fourteen. They were thirteen and my youngest was
twelve. My youngest brother and we'dlived in foster care until we were eighteen.
We talked out. We were actuallysplit up. Me and my sister
lived in one home in Munthsey,and then my brother lived Gaston, Indiana,
(09:01):
and then from there me and mysister topped down. We lived in
the same home the whole entire time. My brothers eventually moved around to three
or four different foster homes, butthey went to Westdale. They were a
football player. He was a footballplayer. I'm pretty sure. There's like
a lot of pictures because they're reallygood at it. But after he graduated
(09:26):
and think my brother were in areally bad crack and he ended up breaking
his back and so the bottom halfof his back was metal like place.
I'm pretty sure. So he hada rough time after that because he couldn't
do much. He loved to beat the gym, loved he loved to
be with his friends. Honestly,I'm pretty sure I found like a lot
(09:48):
of articles where people made because hewent to not one ball state, but
think he went to Purdue in FortWayne. He had so many friends that
there were so many posts about howeverybody just loved him, like so many
more people than I ever even thoughtof, Like I even knew I didn't
know half the people at his funeralwhile in foster care. Were you all
able to keep in touch with eachother during your separation, Yeah, we
(10:11):
were. It was just kind ofhard for the simple fact that schedules didn't
match up, or one foster parentdidn't want to take us or the other
one when we were to have ourmeat and stuff like that. So we
were able to, but it wassomething that wasn't like something that would I
guess you say, should have happened, didn't really happen like our regular cake
being in touch. It would belike sometimes a month or two that we
(10:33):
didn't get to see our brothers ata time or sometimes more, but we
would go to obviously talk on thephone and things like that, but it
just honestly just depended. Now I'mguessing that living in foster care changed the
family dynamics because let's say, withyou all being separated and not living together
(10:56):
under the same roof as a familyliney, you had to changed away things
were in your family. Is thatcorrect exactly? Yes, because we grew
up together. Yeah, we wereso close, and then we got from
Boster Carret And I'm guessing that theseparation must have been really difficult for Montana
(11:18):
because from what I understand, hewas really close to his brother and his
twin sister, and then of coursehe has a relationship with you. But
it sounds like he was really familyoriented, so to be separated from those
that he loved the most must havebeen a really traumatic experience for him.
(11:39):
Because he was fairly young when thishappened. It was very difficult, especially
for him because he always felt guiltythough it was all his fall. I
actually found the paper after he possiblyonly went to his stuff like a letter
like just that he had written likea paper he had written where he just
was like he had put in therethat he was sorry and that he felt
like us being separated family being separatedwas all his fault, and he thought
(12:03):
that everybody put the blame on himbecause it was him and my mom got
into a fight which caused us allto get separated. Was he correct in
his line of thinking? I mean, I know you all were kind of
young, So did you all blamehim for the separation? I'm thinking his
adults with looking back. Of courseshe wouldn't blame him, but it's a
time you all were kids, andyou know how kids can be petty,
(12:26):
So did you all blame him forbeing separated and place into foster care?
Honestly, no, like we werekids, so obviously when we were younger,
we probably did put the blame onthem. But if I would have
known he still thought that way,I would let him know that my life
is a lot better since the simplefact that we were putting foster care because
our mom was an alcoholic, shedid drugs, she was very abusive,
(12:52):
and I was going down the wrongpath. Because I didn't have parents that
cared. Being put in foster care, I was able to so much more.
My life is so much more nowthan what it would have been if
I would have stayed at home.Honestly, thanks to him I have a
good life, and I didn't knowhe felt that way, or I would
have let him know, like,don't feel that way. You honestly saved
(13:15):
us that at one incident. Now, tell me about his experience and foster
care. Did he ever share withyou any of his thoughts about it,
I mean whether it was a goodexperience or bad experience. So I know
the first foster home that he wasin, they still are very close to
my other brother, and they werereally close to him, and he called
(13:37):
the parents mom and dad. ButI don't know. I know that being
there, he got involved with alot of different drugs and alcohol. Because
even though my mom was a badmom, she does one thing she didn't
really like. It wasn't something thatwas allowed. I guess you should say
they allowed a lot more than whatshould have been allowed as a kid.
(14:01):
I guess you said there as ateam. But I know they were removed
from that home, and I didn'tknow they didn't have that good of experience
the other home. I don't knowall the details because I don't really ask.
They don't tell everything, and weweren't really close either because since they
were allowed to do drinking. Ohcall I don't do nothing like that.
(14:22):
So and then everybody they looked atme like their mom. I guess you
said. That's even my brother,even says Alex. They looked at me
and were a mom figure than theyview as a sibling. So they don't
really tell me that much. Now. Has Montana's death brought you and your
other two siblings closer or have youall become distant with each other? Because
(14:45):
in many cases, when there's adeath of the immediate family, it really
makes a lot of changes in thefamily structure. Whereas sometimes it will bring
an entire family together, it canalso tear the family apart and drive everyone
away. So when somebody dies inthe immediate family, it could go either
(15:07):
way. Did this bring your familytogether closer or did it push you all
away from each other? Yeah,so it does. It's not too much
of a difference. We all stillhave our own lives. I know.
It's like really messed with our livesa lot. Like my sister obviously,
that was her twin, that wasthat's the other half of her and my
(15:28):
brother that was his best friend.That's the one person that they were together
all the time, no matter what. So it's hard to explain, like,
I feel like we all have ourown different feelings, and me and
my sister we don't always show ourfeelings. So my brother, I feel
like hurt him so much more thanit's hurt the rest of us. But
(15:52):
I I feel like it's the samefor us. We just we all just
have our own lives. I guessyou say, And how was your brother
when he passed away? I mean, he was a pretty young guy,
wasn't he like twenty one or twentytwo something like that. I know he
was in his early twenties. Hewas twenty I think twenty one when twenty
(16:14):
twenty one when he passed away,because I'm twenty Yes, I think that's
right. I'm pretty sorry twenty ortwenty one. And where do you consider
home? Do you consider munths Hehome or is it some other place in
Indiana? We were technically more fromAnderson. So were you all born in
(16:34):
Anderson? Then? I was,Me and my sister and my brother were
born in Indy. But I thinkthat had to something to do with the
because they were like twins and stufflike that. But most of our life
we were in Anderson. Oh,Okay, Andy, I'm very familiar with
it. I grew up there.Yeah, yeah, so I'm real familiar
with Andy. I grew up onthe East Side. I went to high
(16:56):
school out there, and when Iwas able to leave, I left.
So I ended up going to Ohio. But my family still lives in Indianapolis
and they seem to be content there. But it just wasn't for me.
I couldn't wait to leave. Yeah, understandable. I mean even today,
(17:18):
the East Side of Indie is consideredone of the most dangerous areas in America.
It was like that when I livedthere, and from what I understand,
not much has changed. So forme, definitely, moving away was
the best choice for me and myfamily. Yeah, I've seen things about
(17:38):
that. And let me ask youabout Montana. From high school, he
played football. I believe is thatcorrect because I saw pictures of him wearing
a high school football uniform. Sowas that something he really enjoyed doing?
Playing football? Yeah? Was thereany interests in him playing college football?
(18:00):
Oh? That, I don't know. We had a relationship. It was
his back closest rounds like those timesof the years. I know. He
played soccer until his senior up tohis seat wall. He graduated play he
did wrestling also, him and bothof my brothers did. I honestly don't
know if he wanted to play incollege, and I'm guessing that even if
(18:21):
he did want to play college football, he may not have been able to
because now he did suffer a majorback injury, correct from a car accident?
Was this stur in college or didthis happen before college? I don't
think he was in college yet.I think it was after they had graduated,
not too long. Well, amajor back injury will definitely keep you
(18:45):
from playing football. Yeah, yeah, I can't do a lot of stuff
after that, right, And whatbrought him to Ball State? Was there
a particular reason why he wanted togo there? I mean, you haven't
in university out there, which isa pretty good school as well. So
why Ball State that? I don'tknow. I think it's I had asked
(19:10):
Santiana about why her brother decided toremain in Indiana to attend college. We
will take a short break and returnwith her thoughts on her brother's college experience
and what led him to choosing BallState University as his college of choice.
(19:41):
Oh, okay, so he wantedto stay in Munsey and just stay in
the local area. When a lotof kids graduate from high school and they're
ready to go to college outside oftheir state, you know, they want
to get as far away as theirfamily as possible. I mean, we've
all knew those people. But thenyou have some that want to stay home
and to the local school, likefor instance, my youngest son when he
(20:03):
finished high school, he went toUniversity Cincinnati, which is local and where
a lot of the kids go afterthey get out of high school. But
you do have those who want to, you know, travel, maybe go
to a college outside of the country. But I see with your brother,
he just wanted to stay local andprobably be near his friends and family.
(20:25):
That's what sounds like. Yeah,I know he wants to Fort Wayne for
a while, and I know ithe really, honestly, deep down didn't
only like it for the simple factthat he wasn't around nobody like family wise,
because I know one year I pickedhim up for I think it was
Thanksgiving, because he hadn't won,no way to get home for Thanksgiving,
(20:47):
and too nobody was lipped them becauseeverybody had already left to go with their
families. So me and my husbandand our kids strat into the car and
we drove all the way up thereand picked him up and he spent Thanksgiving
with family with us. That so, I think that when he came back
from Fort Wayne, he just Ithink family is what kept on close.
(21:07):
And what did your brother want tostudy at Ball State? Through my research,
I saw something about some type ofsports, and then I saw something
about social work. So he hadmaybe changed his mind about what he wanted
to do, or maybe he wasn'tquite sure. What do you think he
wanted to do or what did hewant to go to school for. I
(21:30):
think it was physical therapy. Ithink it was because I know he was
doing with criminal justice for a whileand then he ended up switching, and
I think it was physical therapy.I can't even remember. It was something
like that, something that had todo with like therapy, I'm pretty sure.
And tell me about where he lived. I read that he had lived
(21:52):
just off the campus in an apartmentor something like that. Actually it was
a house. It was all staterental, Okay. And did he like
those accommodations? I think he did. His house was really nice. He
was really happy when he moved inthere. He was talking us all about
it. He got so excited.I got a nice house with his friends.
(22:15):
Yeah. I watched an interview witha couple of his neighbor friends and
it was two girls, and theysaid that they just absolutely loved him.
They said he was one of thekindest young men that they had ever known,
and he was a great neighbor.Yeah. Yeah, everybody loved him.
Honestly, he could be a jerk. I'm gonna why if you were
asked me my brother was nasshol Well, to be fair to your brother.
(22:37):
We can all be jerks at sometime or another. We can't be lovable
all the time, right, Buthe was super fleet and everybody loved him.
When we had his funeral, therewere so many people that and I
everybody sit into the room as afuneral, there are people sitting on the
floor. I didn't know half ofthem. It was just all people that
he came across the life that trulyseeing the good side of him and seeing
(23:03):
like he's a good person. Iwas happy that so many people like he
was had so many people in hislife. But I was just like,
honestly super surprised, like just exactlyhow many, Like I mean, half
the people don't even get to showup because there are obviously not everybody can
come. Now, when was thelast time that you actually had a chance
(23:23):
to speak to your brother before hedied? Honestly, the weekend before,
I'm pretty sure it wanted we allgot together at Mollends Park and we had
sandwiches and let the kids play outsideor out in the park and we all
just sat down and just had agood time at Mallaens Park. And I'm
(23:44):
pretty sure it was the weekend beforebecause you're making plans to do fathers because
he passed their Father's Day weekend.We were planned on getting together that weekend
and doing something together because it's whatour plan was because honestly, with life,
we honestly of all just like wedidn't get together as much as we
used to because we used to alwaystry to get like Sunday breakfast at my
(24:06):
house or something. We always tryto get together somewhere, and we had
him been able to with everything wehad so much going on. So our
plan was to start doing something onthe weekend Saturday or Sunday, and that's
what we are planning to do thenext weekend, which is Father's Day weekend.
Do you remember there being anything significantin your last conversation with him,
(24:30):
was or anything that he wanted toget off his chest or anything important like
that, Maybe something he wanted toconfide in you about. I'm pretty sure
we were talking about getting together.Oh. I think we may have had
text messages throughout that week because wehave a family group trat that we text
(24:52):
in all the time. Now,do you know if your brother had anything
going on? Is the law lifewhereas maybe something that he was concerned about,
or did he have any type offears that he may have told you
about, For instance, maybe therewas someone out there who had threatened him,
or he was worried may try toharm him, or anything along those
(25:15):
lines. It's not really. Ithink the week before he died, he
did get into a fight with acouple of the kids, with the guys
that he was always with that helived with him because he was kicking them
out or something because they weren't paying. And then I know they had cameras
put up because his house was robbed. But other than not, not really.
(25:40):
So you're saying that it wasn't anythingthat was so bad that he needed
to go to law enforcement for helpwith nothing like that. No, just
to the fact that I think hedid obviously make the reports when his house
was robbed, but I think whenthe other guys they got into a fight
with him idel and they called thecops. Okay, and how did you
(26:04):
find out that your brother had passedaway? Tell me about that. I
think it was like three or fourin the morning, and my phone kept
bringing and it finally woke me up, and it was my sister and my
brother. They kept calling me.My sister was at work at the time,
and my brother actually was on hisweight to his house. And because
(26:26):
I guess my brother, he hadcalled my brother and said they're something about
they're gonna jump him or something tocome help, that he needed help.
So my brothers jumped in his carand was headed there. And when he
had got there, he had seenpolice, so he said he got the
police game and shut down the party. He said he went to the gas
(26:47):
station and they came back, andthat's when he realized it was what had
happened, that somebody had got shotor something like that, and they put
him in the back of a policecar and took him to the police station.
Even though he was even there whenall that happened. Be pulled up
when the cops are already there.They were calling me and calling me,
and then I finally heard my phone. I answered, and they or trying
(27:08):
to tell me that my brother wasshot in the next that I need to
figure out where he was or whatwas going on, because me, I'm
the big sister like they like.They always told me, I'm the mother
like to them almost. So Istarted calling the hospitals. Nobody had him.
I didn't know where he was,and all I couldn't do. I
(27:29):
was like, Oh, I hadto get get to Munthy. So I
went and picked up the lady weused to live with her kids. I
went there to pick my little cousinso she could watch my kids so my
husband could take me to Munthy becauseI was in the state to drive.
So she end up going with us, and on the way there, I
was calling around trying to figure outwhat was going on, and then my
brother was at the police station,and I was on the phone with my
(27:52):
aunt trying to get her she livesin Ohio, trying to tell her what
was going on, to try andfigure out what it like. She was
starting. She said she was gonnatry and start calling and We're trying to
figure out what was going on.And my brother finally called me back again
and he was just like told methat he he was like, I'm sorry,
sis, but they study's dead.And I don't know, like there
(28:15):
was something already in me that knewthat before I even was on my way
to Monthe. When I got thephone call, I just I just knew.
It was just like a feeling inme, like I didn't want it
to be true, but I knewit just I don't know, is I
just knew. So I told myaunt, and my aunt drew badway here
from Ohio and by the time Igot to the police station, the corner
(28:37):
had already was just and walking upas I was walking up, and he
was showing my brother a picture ofmy blur's hand with a tattoo and was
having my brother identify him. Andthat's how I found out. And they
had a whole bunch of people therebecause it was a party, and from
what I have read during my research, basically everything's started from that party.
(29:00):
On that Friday night that your brotherhad, people were jumping off the roof
and jumping into the pool, andthey were getting loud and then the police
showed up and asked him to turnthe music down. Does that sound about
right? Yeah? After Montana waskilled, law enforcement would eventually arrest a
(29:22):
fifteen year old teenager for being involvedin the shooting death of Montana. The
teenager would be released and not officiallycharged with Montana's death. We will take
a final break and return with SanPiana's final thoughts on the suspected killer and
life without her brother. Can youtell me more about the initial call that
(29:56):
law enforcement received. Why were theysent to the party? Based on my
research, I have deducted that itwas based mostly on noise in the typical
things that you would expect to seeat a party with college students. Well,
supposedly the police came and they thenthey home turned down the music or
(30:18):
something, which, Honestly, ifthe police would have done their jobs,
then I don't think any of itwould have happened, because there was under
age drinking there. If they wouldhave shut down the party, my brother
probably would have got arrested, butat least you wouldn't be dead. But
I'd feel the police failed him thenbecause they didn't do their job. Like,
as a police and you're coming toa party. Why aren't you checking
(30:41):
id seeing that there's alcohol, seeingthat like there's it's ball states they're partying,
Like obviously there's so many parties ballwhere they get they're under age drinkers
there, Like I just like atthat point, like when I found that
out, I felt like police Montypolice failed him there for the fact that
they didn't do their job and puttingthis party to stop. But they did
(31:04):
arrive then and then I don't knowwhat all happened between them, and I've
been told so many different things.Supposedly, these kids came and they went
inside my brother's house and my brothertold them to get out because the party
was out because he had been recentlyrobbed and he didn't want to let it
inside the house. And that oneof the kids pulled a guns in and
(31:26):
they, like I guess, sothe couple people got him to calm down,
they put the gun away, andthose people called more people to come.
The police know who killed my brother. They've already arrested him. One.
So the alleged shooter was a fifteenyear old teenager I believe. Oh
he's either fifteen or sixteen. Yeah, they know who he is. Yes,
the media has described the arrest ofa fifteen year old boy, but
(31:52):
they don't reveal his name. Yeah, we lived named the day he died
because everybody came to us and toldus there. I have so many message
and phone calls then people like wastelling me everybody's name that was involved with
my brother's killing. I've watched thevideos, so there were definitely witnesses.
Then there was tons of witnesses.And that's why I don't get why nothing's
(32:15):
being done, for the fact thatthey have names of all the witnesses.
The girl came to me and mybrother's blue release them was like, I
watched them kill your brother. Iwatched your brother fall to the ground and
recorded with names and everything and givento the police. And I asked them
about it and they're like, oh, we don't know what you're talking about.
How do you not know? Youwere given the recording of this girl
(32:35):
literally saying she watched it all happen. I've watched the video when they killed
my brother. There's kids running tothem, like when they were fighting.
To supposed it was a fight andmy brother had bruises and stuff all over
him. They ran over there.I watched the video and the next you
know, they're shooting and all thekids are running away from the shooting.
There were so many witnesses and nothing'sbeing done. They're just throwing under the
bush like nothing. And they knowwho did it. That's the part.
(33:00):
They know who did it. Theylet him go. He was the one
that everybody said that actually killed mybrother. He was the one that was
arrested. And everybody that came tous that was supposedly witnesses, there's supposedly
no witnesses that's seen it happen.His name was the one thing that kept
coming up. They would want toactually killed my brother. He's the one
that did it. He's the onethat did it. And they arrested him
(33:23):
and they were supposed to be playedthe day before his court hearing to be
charged as an adult. They hadto go through the court to be able
to charge him as an adult,to charge him go the day before.
Why was he released? They saidthat the judge thought there wasn't enough evidence.
But like I said, how isthere not enough evidence when you have
(33:43):
tons and tons of witnesses. There'svideos, so many videos. Everybody knows
he did it. That's the problem. And they don't care like they know
everybody that was involved, because therewas more than one person involved, and
I literally knew that their names theday he died. Like I said,
I have so many messages on phonecalls that day. This is the person
who killed it, this is thepeople that were with them. I have
(34:04):
the video footage of my brother's camera, like I watched, and I like
people of lives, there was alsolive like the only one person there that
my brother and my brother said heknew was only one person that my brother
could identify, like truly identify.And he even lied conpe to what everybody
when this video footage that he toldeverybody that he watched the cops try to
revive my brothers the boat. Inthe videos, he literally left before the
(34:28):
cops got there. He didn't evengo look we did in the video he
said, oh, where's Montana wantto corn? They left, didn't even
look from to me. The oneperson that would have been there and that
should have been there to help him, he just stood there way everybody was
watching him get beat up and getkilled. He stood there in front of
my brother's garage like nothing's happening,and I was like, there's soon.
(34:50):
But every you can watch in thevideo, you no one looked there starting
to fight because everybody starts running towardsthem, and then next thing you know,
you just hear all these shots andyou see him in the video and
everybody's running away. Now, haveyou personally seen video images of the shooter
and all the videos that you've watched, have you actually seen the suspected teenager
(35:14):
in any of those of the sugarI honestly didn't. I don't really see
them in there because I, likeyou said, it's like of the videos
I have are mainly of when itall was going down, and it wasn't
like the camera wasn't exactly on that, but there was a lot of people
recording, so somebody has the videosout there because there everybody has so many
(35:37):
recording There are so many naptab videos, so many recordings, and I'm sure
if the cops really wanted to,they probably could get the videos if they
really were do their jobs. Atthis point, they're not doing their job
because they don't even care about theeye witnesses with the recording the names.
Oh, you asked them and they'relike, oh, I've heard about it.
I've had one one of the detectivessay, oh, I heard about
(35:59):
it, but this girl came infront of me and my brothers and she
told me stritched my face. Iwatched her brother fall to the ground.
Like, how do you not haveit? Have you been able to keep
in touch with anyone that actually witnessedyour brother's shooting? No, I don't.
I don't know a lot of hisfriends. I don't know any of
them that was there. I onlyknow one person that was there at the
(36:20):
time it happened, and he liedto people, and I didn't know it
was a lie until like the actualvideo footage, because he told everybody that
he was there the whole entire time. He was next to my brother for
whatever when they were doing cops triedto do CPR or something on him,
like the people from the ambulance,And it's not true because he in the
video that clearly shows he didn't eventried to help my brother, not one
(36:43):
way. He literally just stood therein front of the garage, and then
he got into his car and leftbefore the cops even showed up. And
then a year later he messaged meand tried to tell me that he didn't
think this. It was this personit was this person. I'm like,
he won't and helping my brother,and you lied about it, like I
don't believe you, no credibility inyour eyes. No, And my brother
(37:07):
literally got to a fight with himthe week before. So sometimes it just
makes me wonder if maybe he hadsomething to do with it. It does
like it has ever since, Likemy brother died and was murdered, and
I watched that video after I heardwhat he said he was telling everybody,
and then I watched that video.It just makes me wonder if he had
something to deal with it. SinceI watched that video, just something in
(37:29):
the back of my mind. Hehas to know something. There's no way
that you call my brother your friend, you who lived with him so many
years together, we're friends, andyou just let him get beat up.
And this was another way around.My brother would have helped and defended him.
He didn't even care. Did youtell me anything else about what caused
(37:52):
the altercation? I know you hadsaid something about people entering your brother's home
and he asked them to leave andthey got angry at him. Is that
the main reason why this happened,or is there maybe something personal that happened
before the party. What we've beentold it was because they went and they
(38:14):
went to the house and my brotherdidn't want anybody in the house. That's
all we really know. There hasn'treally been another story is why it could
have happened. That's the a storythat we've been told is that kids went
gone to the house. He toldhim they need to get out. They
pulled a gun, They calmed himdown. The kids went out and they
caused up friends and supposedly they're ina gang in month see, like one
(38:37):
of the gangs that are supposedly aroundmonths see. So it definitely doesn't sound
like there was a good reason foryour brother to be killed. But then
there's never a good reason to killanyone. No. Never, can you
tell me about any recent conversations withlaw enforcement? Have they given you any
updates or anything useful about the case? Every time I call, very either
(39:02):
not an office or they don't knowor they don't have an update. So
depends on who I talk to you, if I talked to the victim's advocate,
which if who they always send meetto you. Can I never get
a call back And it's the samething over and over again. They don't
tell me nothing. I've talked toyou one detective who I was able to
(39:22):
ask questions too, and he didn'tknow when I even asked about the recordings
of the eye witness that was tellingus all the names, that was like
literally was standing there and talk tome at my brother's blue and Release and
had told me that she watched mybrother get killed. And he was like,
oh, I heard about it,but I don't know. That's all
they can give me. Do youhave that young lady's contact information? I
(39:45):
don't, and I don't have theand I don't have the recording. Other
people recorded it and I've asked forthe recording, but the girl that recorded
it, so she don't have it. She doesn't have it anymore. But
it was taken to the police.And what is the name of the lawn
enforcement agency that is handling this case? Monthy it's a Monthy police department.
(40:06):
It would be them. Yeah,but they don't ever even tell me anything.
I asked him all the time,like and I just get all the
same answers, and I just like, like, that's what makes me feel
more too, that they just havethrown down the back burner and like they
get no fleshing the fact because theyknow who did it, and they have
so many witnesses, and I feellike this is a case I should have
already been closed. So many witnesses, they know who did it, and
(40:29):
it wasn't drive by shooting or something, and they were literally or out.
They were biding my brother, andlike I was, like more than one
my brother well honestly could have justkicked him in the back and left him
at that because he would have voluntaround. That's how Maddie were like he
had a broken back as they literallybeat him and then shot him. So
(40:50):
tell me about what you have beendoing on your own to try to get
justice for your brother. Do youcontact your local media? Do you have
a Facebook page? Do you havea TikTok account? Tell me about what
you've been doing to bring attention tothis case. We have a Facebook page,
I have a family, and Iwork by myself, so it's hard
(41:13):
for me. I do a lotof things. So the most fact that
I don't really have much. Ifeel like I don't how much sport.
We've been in a parade in months. See I've made flyers when I passed
a lot of flyers out around theparade, I do a Facebook post.
I've been trying to raise money fora reward for anybody that does come forward
(41:35):
with any type of information or anybodythat was actually there. I don't really
care who you are like this,as long as you can help us get
them put behind bars. And what'sthe title of your Facebook page? It's
a Justice for Montana, okay.And my suggestion for you would be to
do everything you can to keep yourbrother's story alive, as you are already
(42:00):
doing. Go to the media,your local papers, your local news media
outlets, and just request that maybeon certain anniversaries they bring up your brother's
case, for instance, the anniversaryof his death which is coming up soon,
or on his birthday, most typeof things. But it's important for
you to reach out to people andjust try to make sure that no one
(42:24):
ever forgets about your brother, becauseyou never want your loved one to ever
be forgotten. You want to keepthat name out in the media constantly.
I've messaged the Stars Pressed before andthey they didn't really message me back.
They even put information in the newspaperand I messaged him to let them know.
(42:46):
You obviously don't have to update informationbecause it on there said he was
arrested. I said, the kid'sbeen released, like he's on the roads,
like doing who knows what, attendingschool probably who knows. They had
a couple of people to tell methat he shot up a house, so
hughting like he's dangerous, like datdecided like he's a arrested. He's not
(43:07):
arrested. He's running the streets.And that's what I did in the paper,
firing for It's a Monty parade,like I put in there. Your
kids should be sitting next to thiskid in school and you don't know it
because I recally can't say his namebecause he's a kid trachnically, but he's
not an adult, right because unlesshe's been publicly named by law enforcement as
(43:30):
a suspect, then you really can'tsay that person's name because you could face
legal ramifications if you do. AndI have seen that happen. I know
families get emotional and they feel likethey know what happened to their loved one,
but making accusations without proof can bedetrimental to that person's name, So
(43:55):
you always want to keep that inthe back of your mind. Exactly,
you can't say his name, andthey released him the day before he was
going to be an adult court.If they would have got him to adult
court, he would still probably walkup still. But his name was Poppy
public because the fact that he hasbeen tried to as an adult. Well,
statistically speaking, when these kind ofguys commit murders, they don't always
(44:21):
stop at one. So it's highlylikely that to do it again. Right.
Unfortunately, the way the law works, you have to kill someone before
law enforcement will actually do anything.It's like with restraining orders, they're basically
just paper. You can follow allthe restraining orders that you want against someone,
(44:42):
you can lock the guy up forviolating it, it doesn't matter.
But until that person actually kills youor kills someone else, law enforcement really
can't do anything about it. Evenif they suspect that the guy's going to
probably way commit a murder, can'tarrest anybody for thinking about it. And
(45:04):
that's sad because the cops know whohe is, the cops know he did
it. The cops have the evidence, and they have witnesses, but they
don't want to use them to putthem back. And what's sad is all
these school shootings and he's probably attendingsport. I'm just like when I feel
hopefully he doesn't try to shoot somebodyat school or do something like that if
he is going to school and justit's just scary because he's you're messing with
(45:25):
other kids's lives. We're not puttinghim behind bars where he belongs, because
if he's shot, somebody killed,somebody wants he supposedly, if it is
true, shot a house a weekor two weeks before this, which I
was told by multiple people that wasgiving the information. They were telling the
information even where he was hiding,like I knew it on Like I had
the information probably before the cops,because everybody was messaging me abow to that
(45:50):
day and like people I don't evenknow, they just knew that I was
his sister. I would recommend thatyou save any correspondence that you have received
from different people about your brothers onthe side, because you never know it
could come in useful one day.I did. I have screenshots and I've
sent them to them, but Ido I have everything well, and I
(46:12):
hate to say this, but eventhough you gave everything that you have to
law enforcement, they are known tolose things. So if they were to
have lost whatever you have sent themand worked to come back to you later
and say that they lost it,and they need to know if you have
copies. That's a reality. Justkeep everything. And that's what the frustrating
(46:36):
part is. They does act likethey're not interested to put away a criminal.
Yeah, that's bad because there's somany witnesses, so many people.
I have the videos, so manypeople were there. I have videos they
were taking. Why the part isgoing on from Snapchat I've had. I
have the video from the chemera onethat happened. Like I just there's just
(46:58):
so many videos, so many forthere to many people that could have stepped
in and try to stop. They'recalled the cop. Nobody did anything.
They just watched it all happen.Unfortunately, in today's society, that's a
reality. Whenever a train wreck happens. Instead of trying to help anyone,
people will just get out their phonesand start recording. And that's why I
(47:21):
know there's a recording somewhere, becausethere's no way. There are so many
people that were there and they wererecording all these other videos. There was
no way that there's not recording ofthem killing my brother somewhere around. Yes,
And that's why I'm hoping that someonewill hear this podcast and feel the
(47:42):
pain that your experience and the lossof your brother, and that individual will
come forward and talk to the police. I mean someone with really intimate knowledge
of what happened, and someone whopossibly know the alleged shooter on a more
personal basis. I truly hope so. And that's what's great about podcasts.
(48:07):
You never know who's going to listen, and you never know what person might
have important information who never shared itbefore, but after hearing the podcast,
they might realize that maybe they knowsomething that was important. You just never
(48:28):
can tell with people. And anotherthing I didn't want to ask you is
can you share a favorite moment withyour brother? Honestly, it's a hard
one because we always try to dostuff as family, and our biggest thing
was trying to always get together forsomeday breakfast. Okay, well, then
let me rephrase that question. Tellme something that he did that was really
(48:52):
so funny or just goofy that youwill never forget about it. We are
kids. He got into one ofmy outfit, my dresses, and he
posed with my dress. I havethe picture and I will never forget it.
And dressing up even I think evenput lipstick only I'll never forget it.
(49:15):
We were kids, yeah, Imean, I'm sure that if you
asked a lot of people about thingslike that, that's probably not uncommon.
I mean, I think I canremember when I was a kid putting on
my mom's wigs. My brothers andI would do that. We would put
on our wigs or put on mymom's clothes and act goofy. We did
those kinds of things. It wasalways fine. So it's good that you
(49:37):
have something really funny to remember yourbrother buy that you can always share with
your kids one day. So andthe last question that I would have for
you is for anyone out there that'slistening to the sound of your voice,
if they know anything about what happenedto Montana, what would you say to
(49:58):
that person or person if you couldspeak to them. Honestly, I've always
said if they know anything, tocontact the police or even contact me.
And my information is out there,especially if you follow my brother's page that
I've made, or even his Facebookpage. I post on it all the
time. Just contact somebody, letthem know. And honestly, like I've
(50:21):
told everybody, if you don't Ihope it doesn't let you sleep, because
this is something that's ruining people,our family's live. It's daily like,
it's something that it's a heartache thatwill never go away. So I've told
everybody, if you know something,I honestly hope it interrupt your sleep every
night interview too, because you're inthey're going to hurt somebody else, and
that's going to be on the peoplethat don't turn it in anything. You're
(50:44):
gonna feel guilty for not turning itin because if you could turn it in
now and save somebody else's life,like, that's all we really want.
We want put ups and this doesn'thappen to somebody else. And that concludes
Montana Lopez, who's shot and killedthis young man nearly two years ago.
(51:04):
He was beloved by so many friendsand family members. He didn't have any
enemies or serious disputes with anyone thatcould have led to his death. If
you're listening to this podcast and havea tip, I encourage you to please
contact law enforcement and help remove akiller from the streets. If you have
any information about this unsolved homicide,please contact the Monsey Police Department's Criminal Investigation
(51:30):
Division at seven six five seven fourseven four eight six seven, or contact
Monthy Crime Stoppers at seven six fivetwo eight six four zero five zero or
city police dispatchers at seven six fiveseven four seven four eight three eight.
(51:52):
And if you would like to viewMontana's thoughts on foster care, please visit
the Foster success dot org website.I will be sure to provide this information
in the case story notes. Andif you are a parent, law enforcement
official, friend, or relative seekand justice for an unsolved commicide case,
(52:12):
please visit my website and complete thecontact form. You can also contact me
through Facebook. Thank you for listening
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