Investigators call Muscatine death a homicide
UPDATED: MUSCATINE, Iowa — Preliminary information shows that Zina Montoya, 36, died from a gunshot wound, Detective Mike Bailey of the Muscatine County Sheriff’s office said Wedensday.
“This is being treated as a murder investigation,” Bailey said in a statement.
Montoya’s son, Dexter Montoya said Tuesday that he had last seen his mother alive at 8 p.m. Monday at their home at 1365 Ripley Court. He said she was sitting outside on the glider in the yard when he left. When he returned at 11:50 a.m. Tuesday, his mother was lying on the ground in front of the glider.
“She’s in the same spot she was last night except she was sitting in the chair. I’m shocked,” he said. “She was face down. I shook her and said ‘Mom, wake up’ and then I seen her face. She was dead.”
According to the Sheriff’s Office, The Muscatine County Joint Communications Center received a 911 call at approximately 11:58 a.m. Tuesday requesting medical assistance for a person at 1365 Ripley Court. A Muscatine County Sheriff’s deputy was first on scene and determined the person was dead.
Zina Montoya’s body was visible from many of the neighbors’ yards, though the road to her home was blocked off and police tape surrounded the yard. Police set up a barrier to shield the body around 3 p.m.
People living in the neighborhood said they didn’t hear anything the night before, adding that they didn’t know the Montoyas well, but that they were quiet.
Kathy Albright, 57, lives across the street from the Montoyas’ residence. She said she saw people come and go, and sometimes they would smoke cigarettes on the porch, but nothing out of the ordinary ever really happened in what she said was a friendly, quiet neighborhood.
Officials from the Muscatine Police Department, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Muscatine County Attorney’s Office and Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office were working out of an emergency management agency response unit in front of the mobile home Tuesday afternoon.
Body found in Muscatine identified
MUSCATINE, Iowa — A preliminary investigation is pointing to a suspicious death after a body was discovered Tuesday at Ripley’s Mobile Home Park.
According to a press release from the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office this morning, the body has been identified as Zina Montoya, 36.
Zina Montoya’s body has been transported to the office of the Iowa State Medical Examiner in Ankeny for an autopsy to be conducted today.
Zina’s son, Dexter Montoya told the Muscatine Journal that he had last seen his mother alive at 8 p.m. Monday at their home at 1365 Ripley Court. He said she was sitting outdoors on the glider in the yard when he left. When he returned at 11:50 a.m., Tuesday, his mother was lying on the ground in front of the glider.
“She was in the same spot she was last night except she was sitting in the chair. I’m shocked,” he said. “She was face down. I shook her and said ‘Mom, wake up’ and then I saw her face. She was dead.”
According to the Sheriff’s Office, The Muscatine County Joint Communications Center received a 911 call at approximately 11:58 a.m. Tuesday requesting medical assistance for a person at 1365 Ripley Court. A Muscatine County Sheriff’s deputy was first on scene and determined the person was deceased.
“It’s very, very preliminary but we are investigating it as a suspicious death,” Capt. C.J. Ryan of the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office said.
Zina Montoya’s body was visible from many of the neighbors’ yards, though the road to her home was blocked off and police tape surrounded the yard. Police set up a barrier to shield the body around 3 p.m.
People living in the neighborhood said they didn’t hear anything the night before, adding that they didn’t know the Montoyas well, but that they were quiet.
Kathy Albright, 57, lives across the street from the Montoyas’ residence. She said she saw people come and go, and sometimes they would smoke cigarettes on the porch, but nothing out of the ordinary ever really happened in what she said was a friendly, quiet neighborhood.
Officials from the Muscatine Police Department, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Muscatine County Attorney’s Office and Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office were working out of an emergency management agency response unit in front of the mobile home.
The Muscatine Police Department and Davenport Police Department are assisting in the investigation.
As Dexter Montoya stood at the end of the street, about two blocks from where his mother’s body lay, he tearfully told the Journal, “I just need some answers. I need to know what is happening.”
'Suspicious death' being investigated in Muscatine
EARLIER STORY: MUSCATINE, Iowa — Authorities are investigating what they are calling a suspicious death at a trailer court north of Muscatine this afternoon.
The body of a 36-year-old woman was found face down on the ground at 11:50 a.m. today outside of the home at 1365 Ripley Court.
The woman’s name and other details about her death were not immediately available. The investigation is being conducted by the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office, Muscatine Police Department, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and Muscatine County Attorney’s Office.
The investigation is “very, very preliminary, but we are investigating it as a suspicious death,” Capt. C.J. Ryan of the sheriff’s office said.