The Tradition

Hi, Park enthusiasts. I'm your host, Dilya DeAmbra, and in the case I'm going to tell you about today, takes place in the Santa Rita Mountains about an hour and 15 minutes drive southeast of Tucson, Arizona. This region sits very close to the U.S. Mexico border with the nearest city of Nogales, Mexico, only about an hour and 45 minutes south of the mountain range. The terrain here is what you'd expect. Rugged. A lot of the vegetation consists of pine and oak forests and there are canyons, narrow ridges, and steep slopes that pop up as you go higher in elevation. You can also find species of desert plants too. For example, agave and yucca plants exist even in the areas at higher altitudes. The website visit Tucson.org states that the mountains are a place people go to for everything from serenity, to discovery, to adventure. In the summer of 2004, a man from Tucson who regularly hunted and camped in the Santa Rita's took an annual trip to the region with all the supplies, gear, and experience one would need to have a memorable few days. But he didn't make it out alive. And for more than two decades, law enforcement in Arizona and his family have been plagued by one question. Who murdered Estevan Montaño? This is Park Predators. [Music] On the afternoon of Sunday, August 29, 2004, Darleen Montaño and some of her kids were at home in Tucson, Arizona, waiting for their dad, Estevan to walk through the front door. He left his family four days earlier on Thursday, August 26, to go on a solo hunting trip along the western slopes of the Santa Rita Mountains, which were a little less than an hour away from the family's house. The trip was a tradition that the 44-year-old did every year. Sometimes he'd take one of his sons or nephews with him, but this particular year all of those folks were too busy or had to drop out at the last minute. So he'd gone alone. But him being by himself wasn't a concern because Estevan was a skilled bow hunter and regular visitor to the mountains. And his daughter, Jessica, who was 19 at the time, told me that on several occasions throughout the year, he'd go camping in the mountains with his kids or friends to scout out areas. In terms of her father's knowledge of the terrain, Jessica described his experience as "basically expert level." She said he rarely used a compass to find his way because he had a naturally good sense of direction and knew the mountains like the back of his hand. And when I tell you that Estevan took his August camping trip very seriously, I mean it. Jessica told me that the weekend before her dad left, he'd laid out all of his camping gear and made a list of everything he planned to bring. The kids would help him pack it all up, and everyone just knew that when he left, it would be about four days or so before they'd see him again. She said that if her dad did harvest a deer, there was the possibility he'd be home earlier than that. But most of the time, everyone assumed he'd be out in the mountains until at least noon on Sunday. But he'd never been as overdue as he was on the 29th. Which is why by late afternoon, Darleen, Jessica, and the father of her kids and one of her sisters then significant others, came to the conclusion that something must be wrong. So, they decided to drive to the area where Estevan had said he was going camping to see if everything was okay. According to Jessica, she and her mom piloted into her dad's pickup truck with a man named Sal, who was the father of Jessica's kids, and a guy named George who was the boyfriend of one of her sisters. Darleen drove while George sat in the passenger seat, and Jessica and Sal wrote in the bed of the pickup. Jessica told me that her dad did have a work cell phone, but there was little to no cell service in the area he'd gone camping. So, the family didn't have any ability to contact him and vice versa after he left. And I mean, being disconnected for a while was kind of the point of the whole trip. Anyway, as the group made their way into the Santa Rita's, they initially thought they'd likely run into Estevan as they headed up to his campsite. But they're hope-waying the further and further they drove into the mountains. They didn't come across him or his vehicle in route to his known campsites, which was puzzling because his family assumed that one possible reason why he was so delayed was because his vehicle might have broken down somewhere while trying to get home. And they had good reason for making that assumption. You see, the car Estevan had taken on the trip was an international scout, a vintage model vehicle he'd recently purchased. And this trip was the first time he'd driven it that far from home. In fact, prior to leaving, he'd told his family that there was a strong possibility it could break down. So, because of that, he'd made sure his other vehicle, the truck Darlene and Jessica were in, was stocked with cables and all the things Darlene would need to bring to him if that did happen. So it's safe to assume that because Estevan had anticipated car issues, the backup plan all along had been for family members to come and look for him if he was overdue. The first spot Jessica and the others drove to was one of two areas off of a forest service road where they knew Estevan liked to make camp. His other usual campsite was further up in the mountains, but Jessica said they didn't go there first because they figured since her dad had expressed concern about the international scouts engine, he probably hadn't gone to that one. So they decided to stop at the campsite that was closer to the base of the mountain. And it was there, around three or four o'clock in the afternoon, the group stumbled upon something devastating. They saw Estevan lying face up on a dirt road, sort of in between the road they were on and where he'd set up his camp in the woods. His tent, camping supplies and vehicle were further into the landscape, and his body was about 20 feet closer to where they came to a stop. Jessica said that lying near her father's body was a blanket that she recognized as one of his favorites. It wasn't covering him, but it was tossed to the side of his body. Now, as soon as the group saw this scene, Darlene basically lost it because she was having a hard time comprehending what was going on. Jessica consoled her mom next to the driver's side of their truck while George and Sal walked closer to Estevan to check on him. But not long after that, Jessica said George ended up running off to the side and throwing up, and Sal came back to her and Darlene and said that they all needed to leave and get help. So, without hesitation, everyone in the group sped back down the mountain until they reached an area that had cell service, and as soon as reception bars popped up, they dialed 911. That was around 5.20 pm, and within an hour of alerting authorities, emergency responders and officials from the Pima County Sheriff's Department's Green Valley Station met them at the base of the mountain, and with George as their guide, the emergency crews made the drive back up to where Estevan was. While that was happening, Jessica and Darlene got into a sheriff's cruiser, and were on their way to the station when they received confirmation that Estevan was dead. Paramedics had communicated that there was no chance of saving him because he'd been deceased for a while. That news was earth-shattering to Jessica and her mom. Their first thought was that maybe he'd been attacked by a mountain lion, or maybe a bear, or possibly suffered a heart attack. But those scenarios went out the window when the Sheriff's Department subsequently informed them that Estevan had actually been shot to death in what appeared to be a random crime. The sun was setting by the time law enforcement got to the scene, so Pima County officials were sort of up against the clock to get anything done before it got dark. They decided to remove Estevan's body for autopsy, but kept everything else at the scene secured overnight. Pima County cold case detective Miguel Flores told me that this decision was made so personnel from the agency could properly process evidence and make sure nothing was missed. Starting first thing Monday morning, crime scene texts combed the campsite and Estevan's vehicle for clues in collected clothing, wading that had come from spent shotgun rounds, logical evidence like blood, the victim's bow, and shell casings. They also discovered some blood on the exterior of the international scout that subsequent testing proved did not belong to Estevan. It also didn't match anyone in Kodis, which meant it had come from a completely unknown person. Now the fact that the blood on the vehicle appeared to be recently deposited there and it was discovered within the crime scene parameters that caused the Sheriff's Department to suspect it had likely come from the person who shot Estevan. So they preserved it for future comparison and analysis in the event a suspect were to ever be developed. Meanwhile at the victim's autopsy, doctors concluded Estevan had suffered multiple gunshot wounds from a shotgun, but his approximate time of death was a bit hazy. Investigators estimated he'd been killed sometime within 48 hours of arriving and setting up his camp, which meant he could have been attacked Thursday after he got there sometime Friday, or possibly his late assassin. Saturday. It was difficult for law enforcement to know. Detective Flores told me, though, that the evidence he's reviewed indicates that Estevan was exposed to the elements for at least a few hours after he was killed, which suggests that some time had passed before his family found him. Based on everything investigators had gathered up to that point, they were confident the attack occurred very quickly and was contained to the campsite. For example, Detective Flores told me that there was no evidence Estevan had much physical contact with the offender or offenders before sustaining his fatal injuries. Flores said there was some possible evidence he'd tried to defend himself, but what that evidence is, Flores didn't go into detail about. It's unclear, though, whether Estevan staggered down the dirt road to the spot where he was eventually found, or if someone put him there after shooting him. Detective Flores revealed to me that there were some impressions on the ground at the scene that looked like drag marks, but no blood drops were found in them, which he said one would expect to see if the victim was in fact shot and then dragged to a different location. The other noteworthy thing was that there was no indication anything was missing from the campsite, or Estevan's person. So robbery didn't seem to be the motive for the crime. It still remains a question mark in this case, though, is whether the murder weapon was already at the scene or whether the killer brought it with them? Estevan's daughter Jessica told me that whenever her dad went on hunting trips, he always made sure to pack his bow, a shotgun, and a handgun. However, it's unclear if he took those two guns on this particular trip. Jessica's sister told the Tucson citizen back in 2004 that their dad didn't take his shotgun in August 2004. However, when I interviewed Jessica last year, she told me that she's sure her dad took his shotgun. But as far as she's aware, it was never recovered at the crime scene. When I asked the Sheriff's Department for clarity about this, their public information officer stated no gun was recovered. But what I still can't get to the bottom of though is whether or not the Sheriff's Department has ever determined whether Estevan took his shotgun with him. Because here's the thing, if he did and no shotgun was recovered at the crime scene, that could indicate his gun was the murder weapon and the killer or killers took it after committing the crime. However, if Jessica is mistaken and her sister was right and her father's shotgun was never with him, that means the murder weapon was a shotgun the perpetrator brought with them. Now, normally law enforcement would be able to get to the bottom of this question fairly quickly by doing ballistics testing on the type of firearm or ammunition Estevan was known to have owned. But in this case, it wasn't as easy as that. Detective Flores told me that because Estevan was killed with a shotgun, very little in terms of ballistic analysis could be done because shotgun projectiles are notoriously difficult to match to specific firearms. That isn't so much the case when a pistol or rifle is involved in a crime though. What I do know with some certainty is that a authority suspect just one type of shotgun was used. They also don't think more than one person was involved. Detective Flores said its possible others were present for the murders, but as far as what the evidence supports, the assumption he's working off of is that one person was responsible for the killing. The sheriff's departments take away from the crime scene overall, based on how Estevan had his campsite set up, was that he was initially there alone. He never told his family he planned to meet up with anyone and there was no evidence found that suggested other campers had stayed with him. Jessica told me that it's possible another hunter passing through the area might have bumped into her father, and in that scenario Estevan likely would have greeted that person, but he wasn't the type of guy who'd invite a stranger into his camp for an extended period of time. He liked to be alone and enjoy the peace and quiet of the mountains. When news publications started reporting on this crime, the sheriff's department received a few calls from hunters who said they'd been on the western slopes of the mountains that weekend, and those folks claimed they'd seen a few other hunters who look suspicious, but that information was difficult for law enforcement to follow up on. Detective Flores told me that everyone out in the mountains who wore camouflage and carried a firearm could fit that description. There was no way for investigators to differentiate between a benign individual and a potential perpetrator. None of the calls the department received from hunters led detectives to a specific person or anything that correlated with the murder. It was as if whoever killed Estevan was a ghost. And that wasn't necessarily surprising to authorities. Considering the fact that the Santa Rita Mountains had a very sordid reputation. One theory that emerged early on for investigators was that perhaps Estevan had encountered someone or a group of people who'd been doing something they shouldn't have been. Where the crime occurred wasn't that far from Interstate 19, which is a U.S. highway that runs from the U.S.-Mexico border all the way up into Tucson. Pima County co-case detective Miguel Flores told me that it's a heavily-traveled corridor for human traffickers and drug smugglers. There are checkpoints in place to help curb this illegal activity, but he said oftentimes people involved in those criminal behaviors who are trying to avoid the checkpoints will travel through the desert and mountains on makeshift trails. And one such path, folks like that were known to take, just so happened to be very close to where Estevan was camping in 2004. A prior spokesman for the Sheriff's Department told the Arizona Daily Star that the most likely scenario was that Estevan had been camping right as a quote-unquote "load" came through. A former detective on the case stated though that nothing in Estevan's life indicated he was involved in that sort of illegal activity. It appeared as if he'd just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. I will say though, Jessica told me that for a little while at least, she felt like law enforcement did unfairly judge her father and incorrectly assumed he was associated with smuggling or criminal activity. That changed though the more they looked at his life and his family and realized what a responsible person he was. The 44-year-old was described as a hard-working man who cleared power lines and worked various jobs to provide for his wife and six children. Darlene worked too, mostly as a housekeeper, and together, the couple had saved up enough money to buy their own home in Tucson. Jessica told me both of her parents were extremely proud of the life they'd built together despite the difficulties they'd endured. For example, in 1986, the family's youngest daughter Patricia had passed away as an infant. But the couple and their remaining five kids were able to overcome that loss and continue making the best of their lives. On September 8, 10 days after his body was found, Estevan's loved ones laid him to rest at South Lawn Cemetery in Tucson. Jessica told me the memorial service was so packed with people that some folks couldn't even fit through the doors. She said it was comforting to hear so many people's stories and recollections of how kind and generous her father was. Darlene, the kids, and other people associated with the Montanjo family were later questioned by investigators and even had their DNA taken. But one by one, it seems they were all cleared. Detective Flores told me that while reviewing the old case reports, he could see where prior detectives had looked into whether Estevan might have had enemies, or if a family member was financially motivated to kill him. But there was nothing that supported his murder was targeted. And it was the randomness factor of the crime that really shook folks up. You see, members of law enforcement in Arizona couldn't ignore the fact that Estevan's murder had eerie similarities to another random killing that had occurred less than a year earlier just a few hours northwest of the Santa Rita Mountains. That case was the double murder of Lisa Guerrere and Brandon Rumbaw in Yavapai County, Arizona. And if those two names sound familiar, you're not having deja vu. I actually covered Lisa and Brandon's case in a prior episode of Park Predators titled The Stars. They were gunned down while camping overnight in the back of Lisa's mom's pickup truck in an area north of Phoenix near Bumblebee Road. Because their case was still really fresh when Estevan's murder occurred, authorities in Pima and Yavapai counties started to look into whether the cases might be linked. Jessica and others in her family had the same thought as well. But based on what I gathered from reading the reporting on this case and my interviews with Jessica and Detective Flores, it doesn't appear that investigation was done. The investigators today still suspect the crimes could be linked, because both murder cases remain unsolved, and I haven't seen anything that says authorities have found anything that confirms they're related. I think it was just an observation that happened back in the early 2000s, because both crimes occurred one after the other, and they were both shootings, and the victims were camping by themselves in rural areas. Anyway, for most of September and early October 2004, public interest in Estevan's case died down. Jessica explained that on October 5th of that year, a high-profile murder of a pediatric eye surgeon in Tucson absorbed a lot of media interest and law enforcement resources. And as a result, her father's case sort of got overlooked. The murder she was talking about. About was the killing of Dr. Brian Stidham, who, if you have not watched the 48-hour special on CBS called an eye for an eye about his case, I recommend you do. It's a crime that's totally unrelated to Esteven's murder, but if you get into the weeds on it like I have, you'll see why, like Jessica said, it got so much attention as compared to her father's case. Despite that, though, in early October, before it got too cold to trek up into the mountains, Jessica, her mom and about 50 other relatives took a trip to visit the area where Esteven had been killed. Jessica told me that the family didn't want to wait until the one-year anniversary to go to the mountains, so they assembled everyone the week of October 17th. The plan was to start at the other campsite location further up the mountain that Esteven sometimes used, and not go straight to the campsite where he'd been murdered. Jessica told me her family wanted to put a small cross at the furthest campsite, then physically walked to where he'd been killed and built a small memorial there. Then when the one-year anniversary rolled around, everyone would return to where his body was found and erect a larger cross. KOLD News 13 and the Tucson citizen reported the two campsite locations were only about a thousand feet away from one another, but weren't visible to each other. The evening before relatives made the trip, one of Jessica's cousins visited the furthest campsite to check things out and make sure that when the larger group arrived the following day, they wouldn't be disturbing anyone. When he got there, he found a tent set up, a broken lawn chair, a cooler with food in it, and there was also a grill, a pair of boots, a sleeping bag, a toothbrush, rifle ammunition, clothing, and a bunch of other camping gear sitting around. Jessica's cousin figured someone or possibly multiple people had been staying there, but just weren't there at the moment. So he left a note informing whoever this stuff belonged to that his family would be coming by the following morning and then he left. The next morning, Jessica and everyone showed up and the group had their memorial moment, but the campsite was still sitting the same way her cousin had found it the previous night. The note he'd left hadn't been touched and it appeared the site was abandoned. Jessica told me it definitely seemed as if multiple people had been staying there at some point, but when they left and why was unclear. At the moment though, she and her family didn't think the abandoned campsite was suspicious or anything, they figured it belonged to a hunter who'd be back in a few days. So they carried on with their mourning and decided to hike from there towards the campsite where Esteban was killed. On the way down the mountain though, they found some extremely concerning items. Things that they realized law enforcement should have definitely known about. Some of the stuff Jessica and her family found while walking between the two campsites in the mountains included spent shotgun shells, a yellow t-shirt that had holes in it and what appeared to be blood on the collar, and some arrows in a ditch that one of her brothers recognized as Esteban's. Apparently Jessica's brother knew what brand of arrows their dad always used because he would help him with them, which is why he recognized them right away. The fact that their dad's arrows were found in a ditch along with a box he would sometimes use for target practice suggested to his kids that he'd had some time to target practice prior to his death. But the fact that family members were the ones finding all this stuff weeks after the crime and not law enforcement sort of freaked Jessica and her family out. They quickly got in touch with Pima County Sheriff's Officials and the department took possession of everything which included the arrows, the dirty t-shirt, and of course the specific location of the abandoned campsite. What's wild to me is that according to Jessica her family later confirmed that where the abandoned campsite was located was visible in aerial photos that law enforcement had taken of the original crime scene. But for whatever reason the Sheriff's Department had just never investigated it. So the abandoned campsite and all the stuff the family found in it had presumably been there the entire time. But no one had thought to go up there and check it out to see if it could be related to the crime, which to me is absolutely bananas. When I asked Detective Flores about this apparent oversight he told me that as far as he's aware subsequent investigation of the other campsite didn't yield any clues that formerly linked it to Esteban's murder. And a detective who was assigned the case back in 2004 told the Tucson citizen something similar. However, that guy also expressed that the campsite in his opinion was connected somehow. They just couldn't prove it. According to law enforcement the t-shirt the family found that appeared to have blood on it was later tested and the results indicated no blood was present. A subsequent investigation into the gear and supplies found at the abandoned campsite revealed the stuff had been purchased before the crime. But investigators were never able to determine who had bought it. And despite learning all of this, by May 2005 the case was at a standstill yet again. And authorities had no new leads. So the Montanjo family joined the Sheriff's Department at a press conference to try and keep the crime in the public eye. Jessica and her family members pleaded with people who might have more information to come forward. The initial $1,000 reward that was put up was increased to $7,000 thanks to a donation and Esteban's family raising money through car washes and yard sales. But even with more money up for grabs, it doesn't seem anyone contacted investigators with fruitful information. A few months later on the one-year anniversary of the crime, Esteban's family and friends returned to the mountains and held another memorial service for him. During that visit they released 365 white balloons that had his name and birth and death dates printed on them. The family also put up two signs. One was in English and the other was in Spanish. They both said that whoever was responsible for the murder would be punished and a reward was available. Media attention on this anniversary was minuscule. In fact, one of Esteban's sisters wrote to the Arizona Daily Star thanking the newspaper for being the only media outlet to attend and publish something about the anniversary gathering. Detective Flores emphasized in our interview that Esteban's case remains very active. He's not forgotten about him and neither has anyone in his department. He said that the murder is one of about 200 unsolved cases in Pima County's Cole case unit that Detective Flores and his team are working on. The unit typically works 50 to 60 cases at a time, and DNA testing is happening simultaneously in each one of those investigations, meaning while they wait for results on one, they go ahead and start working on another and so on. Flores said that Esteban's murder has been one of the more active Cole cases the department revived in the last few years because of advancements with forensic investigative genetic genealogy. Right now, the first major step forward, according to Flores, is getting the genealogical analysis results back, which will hopefully help his team narrow down who the unknown DNA from the blood at the crime scene belongs to. From there, the plan is to investigate that person further, do an additional DNA comparison, and then begin to figure out what happened between that person and Esteban, which resulted in the homicide. But here's the tricky thing that Detective Flores pointed out to me that I hadn't thought a whole lot about. One of authorities were able to identify the killer. There is a world in which that person could claim self-defense, or another scenario which might affect how law enforcement would be able to charge them. However, Detective Flores said there is no scenario in which the person would get out of criminal charges entirely because, regardless of what led up to the shooting, they failed to report a death, which is a crime. Regarding this topic, Flores told me in part, quote, "Even if we were able to get a definite match and we could lock somebody totally into that scene, our police work is not even halfway done at that point." Because there are multiple instances in most state laws where a justification of use of force, justification of use of deadly force, is authorized. Now, however, in this case, we have a abandonment of the scene in the sense that lethal force was utilized and somebody chose not to report it to the police. He chose to flee the scene. Estevan's daughter Jessica told me that over the years, not having answers about who killed her dad literally tore her family apart. She and her siblings went their separate ways as they got older because, without their dad, life just wasn't the same. When her father was alive, he let a full life, was a loving grandfather, a dedicated husband, and had a good job and his family was his entire world. Jessica told me that he was at a place in his life where he was eager to pass on his knowledge about life and hunting and all his hobbies to his grandchildren. After his murder, everything changed for the Montagnos. Jessica said her mom, Darleen, couldn't bear to live in Tucson where she'd built a life with her husband, and so she moved to Texas. Jessica told me that her mom always referred to Estevan as the love of her life and the person she was meant to be with forever. Darleen never stopped talking about him. All the way up until her death from lung cancer in February 2025. For a long time, no one in the Montagnos family really heard much from lung enforcement. Jessica says a lot of detectives rotated through the Sheriff's Department after 2004, and periodically sheaned reach out to them, but it was hard to get regular responses. The most recent information she's received is that detectives are still waiting for further DNA results to come back. Until then, she says she's been told there's not much more the agency can do. In 2019, it was reported that the profile developed from the unknown blood at the crime scene could be connected to someone residing in Mexico, or who was originally from Mexico. And according to nine news, the Sheriff's Department did submit paperwork to Mexican authorities to try and check their records for a possible match. But to date, it's unclear if communication or cooperation is still happening between law enforcement officials in Mexico and the Pima County Sheriff's Department regarding Estevan's case. What I do know is that according to Detective Flores, if his cold case unit establishes probable cause to pursue further investigation into Mexican nationals, then Pima County officials will work with federal agencies in the U.S. to make that process go smoothly. Flores told me that because his jurisdiction is in such close proximity to the border, the Sheriff's Department is used to dealing with international agencies as part of ongoing criminal investigations. So even if the homicide investigation were to cross borders, that's not a deal breaker for Detective Flores. If you have any information about the unsolved murder of Estevan Montano, please contact the Pima County Sheriff's Department cold case unit at 520-351-3486 or submit a tip anonymously at 8/8 crime. Reward money is still available in this case if a tip leads authorities to resolution. Links to those resources can be found on the blog post for this episode and in the show notes. Park Predators is an audio check production. You can use a list of all the source material for this episode on our website, parkpredators.com and you can also follow Park Predators on Instagram @ParkPredators. I think Chuck would approve.