Suspect in 1994 Morongo Valley murders arrested

Mario Montes Banuelos, 49, of Yuma, Arizona was arrested at the Yuma border crossing. Banuelos is accused in the murder of two men on April 1994 in Morongo Valley.

According to the Morongo Basin Sheriff’s Station, on the night of April 14, 1994, a deputy saw a van in the middle of Highway 62 west of Rawson Road with the emergency flashers on and the headlights on high beam. When the officer approached the vehicle, he was the driver was covered in blood and what appeared to be a gunshot wound to his head.

Deputies searched the vehicle and found two other men in the back of the van dead from multiple gunshot wounds. The two men were identified as Jesus Munoz, 17, and Portirio Chavez Cardenas, 24, both of Los Angeles. The driver, Enrique Munoz, 22, also from Los Angeles, recovered from his multiple gunshot wounds.

Detectives were able to determine that the three men were summoned to a residence in Coachella Valley by one of the suspects. Police say when the three arrived at the residence, they were assaulted and forced into a van. The van was driven to an unknown dirt road in the Morongo Valley where they were shot multiple times.

Mario and Noe Montes Banuelos were identified as the suspects in the shooting. Arrest warrants were issued but the suspects were believed have been hiding out in Mexico.

Law enforcement officials spent 25 years attempting to find the two.

Noe was shot and killed in Sonora Mexico on July 7, 2018, according to United States Marshall’s Service Fugitive Task Force.

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies received word that Mario was arrested on Jan 19. On Jan. 25, Yuma County Sheriff’s Office advised detectives that Mario had waived extradition. Detectives traveled to Arizona and took Mario into custody.

Mario has been booked into the Central Detention Center for murder and attempted murder and is being held without bail.

Detectives ask that anyone with information related to this investigation to call the Homicide Detail, Detective Art Alvarado (909) 387-3589. If you wish to remain anonymous you can call the We-Tip Hotline at 1-800-78-CRIME(27463) or click here.