Posted on Mon, Feb. 25, 2008

Chapter 13 | In the dead of night, a girl goes on a dangerous ride

By Tim Madigan, With Deanna Boyd and Melody McDonald

Star-Telegram Staff Writers

This series contains explicit language and graphic descriptions of violence.

Editor's note: To Catch a Killer is the true story of killer Andy James Ortiz, his young victims, and the Fort Worth police and Tarrant County prosecutors who brought him to justice.

The story so far

A female's body was found at Marine Creek Lake in northwest Fort Worth. Police Detective Curt Brannan was called to the scene and attended the autopsy in his search for clues to her identity. So far, he had come up empty-handed.

CHAPTER 13

Early in her Saturday-morning shift, Victoria Curtis noticed a copy of the Star-Telegram lying around the nursing station at a Crowley nursing home. Curtis didn't normally read the paper, but for some reason she was drawn to it that day, July 22, 2000. When she started scanning the pages, she came across a story that gave her chills.

There wasn't much to it, just a few paragraphs beneath a small headline on an inside page. The night before, the body of a female had been found near Marine Creek Lake in northwest Fort Worth. Because of the advanced state of decomposition, police couldn't determine the race or age. The story concluded by saying the corpse was dressed in blue pants, but those few words were enough to send Curtis into a panic. She showed the paper to another nurse, who read it and tried to reassure her. But Curtis couldn't help jumping to conclusions, because by then her young niece had been missing for four days.

Krystal Minjarez, a pretty 13-year-old, had been living with Curtis off and on for several months because of problems with her mother. Curtis and the girl often locked horns, too, and on the previous Tuesday morning, after another argument, the aunt awoke to find the back door of her Crowley trailer home unlocked and Krystal gone. The girl had stuffed pillows beneath a blanket on the sofa to disguise her escape.

The wait began. Surely there was a limit to the girl's rebelliousness, Curtis thought. Krystal was only a kid, barely a teenager, and a sweet one at heart. She would grow tired of her adventure, whatever it was, and call Curtis. The aunt worked harder and harder to convince herself of that as one day led to the next without word.

By Saturday, Curtis was a wreck. No wonder she nearly fainted when she saw the newspaper story. It took a long time for Curtis to compose herself, to try to focus on her work and on the fact that Marine Creek Lake in northwest Fort Worth was a long way from Crowley, a suburb to the south.

"I'm going to stay positive," Curtis thought. "She's with a friend. She's going to come back."

A life of heartache

They called her "La Giggles" because Krystal was a girl who could and would laugh at almost anything. But few kids that age had known heartbreak like hers. Krystal was born in Abilene. Her mother and father never married, and her home life was one of dysfunction and tragedy. Krystal told other relatives that one of her mother's boyfriends had molested her. Her relationship with her mother was volatile. And then, in 1999, her older brother, Arthur, murdered an ex-girlfriend and four others in Abilene and was gunned down a few days later by police in Fort Worth, where he had been hiding.

Just a few months later, in December of that year, Krystal moved into the Crowley trailer park with Curtis and her two daughters, Lana and Daphne. Finally, the girl would have some stability and discipline, and Krystal seemed grateful most of the time. She always looked for ways to help around the house, kept them all laughing and could be so tenderhearted. Curtis would never forget how Krystal would pray. In the cramped trailer home, she shared a king-size bed with her aunt, and nearly every night, Curtis saw the girl's lips move as she closed her eyes.

"Just a minute, God," the girl said one night. "I have to put you on hold and talk to my aunt."

But she could be exasperating, too. Continuously on the computer, seemingly addicted to teen chat rooms, Krystal would also monopolize the only telephone for hours at a time. When Curtis tried to limit her, the girl would storm into the bathroom and lock the door. Most troubling to the aunt was Krystal's craving for attention from boys, particularly an older guy who called himself "Jaime."

They met one day in the summer of 2000, when Krystal and her friend Michelle were walking together at a Crowley apartment complex. Jaime pulled up, rolled down his window and started chatting up Krystal.

Before he drove off, he wrote down his number on a piece of paper and handed it to Krystal, asking her to call. He didn't have to ask twice, because the girl was boy-crazy. How could she have known he was a predator? What girl her age would not be flattered by attention from an older guy like that, a guy with his own wheels?

"He's such a sweet guy," Krystal later told a friend. "He said he wants to marry me."

Eventually Jaime called Krystal at her aunt's home. Once, Krystal's cousin Lana answered, and she wasn't happy.

"How old are you?" Lana asked.

"I'm 19," said Ortiz, who was really 26 at the time.

"Well Krystal is only 13, so stop calling her," Lana said.

But a few days later, Jaime called again. This time Curtis answered. When the aunt told him that Krystal was not home, Jaime simply thanked her and hung up.

Slipping away in the dark

Monday, July 17, was a peaceful night in the trailer home, at least early on. Curtis and the girls watched television. Then Krystal's older cousins helped the girl paint her nails a bright pink. Later, when Lana fell asleep in her mother's bed, Curtis asked Krystal whether she would mind spending one night on the sofa. Krystal agreed without complaint. But sleep was the last thing on her mind.

Around midnight, Curtis got up to use the bathroom and found Krystal curled up on the dining-room floor, talking in hushed tones on the telephone.

"I gotta go," she whispered.

Curtis was angry.

"Don't you know what time it is?" she asked. "Hang up the phone right now and get to bed."

To make sure her niece obeyed, Curtis unplugged the phone, brought it into her bedroom and hid it under her bed. Krystal didn't argue as she slipped back under a blanket on the sofa. Curtis rose at 6:45 a.m. and walked to the kitchen to make coffee, noticing immediately that the back door was unlocked. She hurried to the sofa, pulled back the blanket and found the pillows stuffed beneath. At that moment, she was more furious than afraid.

"What's next with this girl?" she thought.

'You need to go home'

Just after midnight at a nearby trailer, Antonyette Beamon heard a knock at her bedroom window. When she went to investigate, Antonyette was surprised to see Krystal standing in the dark, dressed only in shorts, a skimpy white tube top and blue flip-flops. Antonyette opened her window.

"My aunt locked me out," Krystal said. "Can I come in?"

"Come around to the front door, but be quiet," Antonyette said. "My mom's sleeping."

They had known each other for about six months, from the time Krystal had moved to Crowley and started attending Antonyette's middle school near the trailer park. Antonyette was an eighth-grader, a year older than Krystal, but the two became friends and passed notes at school. One time, when a classmate stuck gum in Krystal's hair, Antonyette helped her get it out. The two always walked home together after school and spent many nights and weekends in each other's homes. Krystal was a sweet girl, always laughing, a little boy-crazy, maybe, but what girl her age wasn't?

Antonyette let her in, and the girls tiptoed to Antonyette's bedroom. As they whispered in the dark, Krystal had a confession: She wasn't really locked out. She and her aunt had argued about the telephone, so Krystal had sneaked away, leaving the back door unlocked so she could return.

"You need to go home," Antonyette said. "My mom is superstrict. If she catches you here, she might whip us both."

"I will in a little while," Krystal said. "Can I use your phone?"

That's when Krystal paged Jaime, who called back within minutes. Antonyette was dozing on her bed but recalled hearing Krystal talk about meeting him that night. It was about 2:30 a.m. when Krystal said she was leaving.

"You can't go like that," Antonyette said, grabbing a dark-colored blouse and a pair of blue pants and giving them to her friend.

After Krystal changed clothes, Antonyette walked her to the door and let her out, telling her to go home. But the girl obviously had other ideas. A few seconds later, Antonyette heard a car door slam, and when she looked out the window, she saw a light-colored car speed off into the night.

Antonyette's phone rang about 30 minutes later.

"What's up?" Krystal said. "I'm up here at Jaime's place on the north side."

During their short conversation, she told Antonyette that Jaime had a rose waiting for her on the passenger seat of his car.

"What a sweet guy," Krystal said.

But as Krystal talked, Antonyette also heard anxiety in her friend's voice. It sounded as if Krystal had realized she was just 13, a young girl with an older guy, far from home in the middle of the night, which was not a good place to be. Rose or no rose.

"I'm scared," Krystal said.

What could Antonyette do? She was barely 14 herself. Jaime would bring her back before her aunt got up, she thought to herself. It was no big deal. Krystal promised to call again, and when the two friends said goodbye, Antonyette dozed off.

When Antonyette's phone rang again, it was Krystal's aunt, sounding very troubled.

Learning the truth

Victoria Curtis waited until midafternoon the Tuesday that Krystal disappeared to call the police, thinking that by then the girl would have come to her senses. The Crowley officers came to the trailer and took a report but said they could not issue an Amber Alert because the girl had left of her own accord. So Curtis could do little but wait. As the days passed, anger and terror washed over her by turns.

After she saw the first newspaper story Saturday morning, she looked for a Star-Telegram when she reported for work Sunday. Curtis quickly found the story she was looking for, again on an inside page.

The female found dead at Marine Creek Lake had been strangled, the second story said. A detective named Curt Brannan said police had been interviewing campers and fishermen around the lake. The victim had been dead for two to five days and was found wearing blue nylon slacks and a white cotton tube top under a long-sleeved blouse.

Krystal had been wearing the white tube top but not the pants, Curtis thought as she read, her heart pounding. Had she changed clothes? Please, Lord, she prayed, let it be someone else.

Then she knew it wasn't. She read the second-to-last paragraph: "Brannan said the woman's fingernails and toenails were painted pink."

Next: Andy Ortiz becomes a suspect again.

TIMELINE

Nov. 25, 1990: Andy Ortiz is arrested in the burglary of a car, the first of his many arrests as an adult.

Sept. 4, 1991: Ortiz is accused of kidnapping a 13-year-old girl. That charge is dismissed as part of a plea bargain when Ortiz agrees to a nine-year sentence for earlier burglaries. He is paroled after nine months.

Aug. 8, 1993: Ortiz is accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl, but there isn't enough evidence to go to trial. He is returned to jail on a parole violation and serves one year.

Early 1995: Ortiz first meets 13-year-old Armida Garcia at a convenience store and gets her phone number.

1995: Ortiz begins corresponding with and calling Garcia from jail, where he is doing time on a theft charge.

December 1995: Ortiz is released from prison.

Summer 1996: Nineteen-year-old Brenda Salazar moves to North Texas to pursue a job in the airline industry.

Early 1997: Ortiz meets a 15-year-old girl named Anna.

May 26, 1997: Salazar's roommate returns from out of town and discovers Salazar's body in their apartment just after 5 p.m.

July 9, 1997: A 12-year-old girl is raped by a man matching Andy Ortiz's description; she decides not to pursue the case. Aug. 3, 1997: Garcia is strangled in her parents' bedroom.

Aug. 4, 1997: A caller tips off Detective Joe Thornton that Ortiz might be her killer.

Aug. 5, 1997: A warrant is issued for Ortiz on a charge of capital murder.

Aug. 8, 1997: Ortiz is arrested in Garcia's killing; Thornton tries to get a confession from Ortiz.

Fall 1997: The Salazar murder case grows cold.

Late 1997: Ortiz is jailed on parole violations; he begins corresponding with Anna.

January 1998: Thornton gets a tip that someone may have seen Ortiz fleeing from Garcia's home the night of the killing, but he's unable to find the witness.

Summer 1998: Ortiz's brother Elton is arrested for killing a man in a dispute over a girl. He would get 99 years in prison.

July 1999: Andy Ortiz is released from jail; he moves in with Anna.

Jan. 29, 2000: Ortiz marries Anna.

March 8, 2000: Ortiz's mother-in-law kicks him out of the house.

March 22, 2000: Ortiz threatens his estranged wife; the next day, she contacts the police.

July 21, 2000: A female's body is found at Marine Creek Lake.