She Went To A St. Patrick’s Day Party In 2001 And Vanished After Arguing With Her Boyfriend In A Bar
Originally from Dulce, New Mexico, Melissa Montoya was 42-years-old in 2001. Despite being a member of the Jicarilla Apache Nation Reservation, she lived with her non-native boyfriend in a remote region of Colorado.
According to Darlene Gomez, Melissa’s second cousin and an attorney, she was an extremely strong individual.
“She worked on a ranch. She was physically strong. Someone who was very strong and independent and fierce,” Darlene said.
However, Melissa’s relationship with her boyfriend was reportedly tumultuous and riddled with worsening domestic abuse – which made her afraid to leave.
Her younger cousin, Melody Gomez, recalled visiting Melissa and her boyfriend’s home, allowing her to get a closer look at their relationship. She described Melissa’s boyfriend as “very, very controlling.”
Then, over time, Melody’s interactions with her cousin dwindled.
“He was so controlling that they stayed home out at their ranch the majority of the time. You would only see her come into town, like, for supplies,” Melody said.
By the time March 2001 rolled around, though, it seemed like something had shifted. Melissa was supposedly in the midst of ending her relationship with her boyfriend.
Her family offered to take her in during this process, but she turned them down. Darlene explained that Melissa’s family home was very small and did not have running water.
bennnn – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual people
With a lack of domestic violence shelters in the region, as well as no housing for single women on the reservation, Melissa kept living with her boyfriend.
Then, on March 9, 2001, she mysteriously disappeared.
That evening, Melissa had visited a local bar – the Apache House of Liquor but nicknamed “The Zoo” – for a St. Patrick’s Day party.
Melody was actually there as well, and the pair spoke for over an hour. Melody learned about Melissa’s plans after apparently leaving her boyfriend.
“She told me where she was going. She told me she was newly single. She told me all these, you know, really good things. And I was really happy because then I thought, you know, ‘Now we can interact with you more,'” Melody remembered.
Yet, while Melissa was speaking with a friend, Ree Vicenti, later that night, her demeanor reportedly changed. According to Ree, Melissa seemed worried, and eventually, a man believed to be Melissa’s boyfriend approached and spoke to her.
“I had no idea what they were saying. They kind of got into a little argument right there. She kind of told him, ‘Okay, all right. Leave me alone. I’m sitting over here talking to my friend,'” Ree detailed.
Afterward, the two friends proceeded to talk for around an hour before the man claimed it was time to go. At that point, Melissa reportedly walked out of the bar first, and the man followed behind.
That was the last time Melissa was ever seen or heard from again.
An investigation into her disappearance was reportedly launched “within a month” by the Jicarilla Apache Nation Police Department. The Bureau of Indian Affairs was involved as well – surveying and interviewing people on the property.
According to Chris Rafferty, Jicarilla Apache Nation Police Department Criminal Investigator, authorities knew about Melissa’s relationship issues as the couple had gotten into arguments in the past.
Police spoke to Melissa’s boyfriend following her disappearance, too, but he claimed to know nothing about it. He alleged that he was never at the bar with Melissa that night despite multiple witnesses saying otherwise.
Still, Melissa’s boyfriend – the suspect in her case – died not long afterward. Additionally, his Colorado home subsequently burned down.
Investigators initiated a search of his residence, but no evidence was found.
“They did go out to the residence of the suspect and did a preliminary search there. They ended up not being able to find anything,” Rafferty stated.
“No remains, no clothes, no personal belongings were found. She left a bar after a St. Patrick’s Day dance. That was pretty much it.”
In the over 23 years since Melissa vanished, there have been few developments in her case. Another one of her cousins, Melody Gomez, expressed her unrest over the little media attention given to Melissa’s case – which parallels many other cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW).
“It was like she just fell off the face of the earth, basically. In those rural areas, there are no resources,” Melody said.
Melanie agreed and shared how she personally knows three or four people who have gone missing, which – given the population numbers of her local area – is significant.
“It’s like so many people from that area, the reservation, are coming up missing or have been missing for years, and it’s like nobody even cares,” she stated.
There was a sliver of hope that Melissa’s case would be solved after the skeletal remains supposedly belonging to a Native American female between 30 and 60 years old were discovered in Dulce, New Mexico, in 2020.
It was believed the remains could have belonged to Melissa. But, following another round of testing, it was learned that the bones were male, meaning they did not belong to Melissa.
Now, her family has been left searching for answers again with the hope of burying her at home.
“I don’t think anybody in the family realistically thinks that we will bring her home alive,” Melody said.
Rather, Melanie claimed they’d just like to find her and finally know what happened to her.
Melissa was between five foot seven and five foot eight, weighed between 155 and 165 pounds, and had black hair and brown eyes.
If you have any information regarding her disappearance, you are urged to contact the Jicarilla Apache Nation Police Department at (575) 759-3222.
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