GUILTY TX - Celia Lopez, 29, San Antonio, 10 April 2015 *Arrest*

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Celia Lopez, 29, was last seen between 4:30 a.m. and 5 a.m. in the Southcross and South Presa area. Lopez, who is also known as "Gizmo," is 4 feet 10 inches tall and weighs about 130 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes.

She was last seen wearing blue jean shorts, a black T-shirt with a picture of Gizmo the gremlin and the word "Gizmo" in white, a red spaghetti-strap shirt underneath and gray Nike sandals. She is also wearing green contact lenses.

She has numerous tattoos: one Playboy bunny on each inner wrist; "Nyshya" on her right hand, "Dolores" on her left hand; "OG Pudgy" on her chest, and "FAME" in red letters on the front of her neck. She also has "Southside" on the back of her calves.

She was carrying a black cellphone case that held her cellphone.

1429031801128.jpg


http://www.ksat.com/content/pns/ksa...9--missing-since-friday--authorities-say.html
 
I believe these two news stories relate to this case.
http://www.ksat.com/content/pns/ksa...iller-has-struck-before-may-strike-again.html

http://www.ksat.com/content/pns/ksa...nt-lot-had-been-reported-missing-by-fami.html

*No judgement* here but in the beginning of the video interview, (00:37) they interviewed a prostitute in the area, and the media seems quick to link this case to a different assault on the same road (different block) two weeks ago. I don't know CL's history, or if she was ever involved in the sex industry, but I hope on the off shot that there is a link there that San Antonio police are doing everything they can to alert the women who are working on the streets.

EDIT: http://www.kens5.com/story/news/2015/04/15/presa-body-missing-woman/25859963/
Mejia said she is sure the woman is Celia Lopez. She and her friend, Sandra Salazar, were looking for her. They said she was working the area when she was picked up by a man Friday.
The women claim another one of their friends, who also works the area, was almost killed not too long ago.

"She is in a vegetative state she was beaten beyond recognition," she said.

They fear their friend will not make it but the women said they're certain their friend's crimes are connected.

"They have the same MO they're both involved in drugs and work the streets," said Mejia.

Eyewitness News took their concerns to SAPD. We were told investigators are not ruling out any connections to other crimes, but they must treat each case separately until evidence links them together.
It may be too quick to jump to conclusions, but it seems as though there is a predator out there in San Antonio targeting sex workers!
 
Delores Mejia said she believes whoever killed the woman was likely the same person who viciously attacked her friend two weeks ago.

"Two Fridays ago, she was found in an alley. She had been raped and strangled, so she's in a vegetative state," Mejia said. "It needs to be stopped. This is the second person in two weeks."

Mejia's friend was so brutally beaten, she might not survive her injuries.

Just like the woman who was found Wednesday, Mejia said her friend's body was dumped in tall grass in a secluded alley.

"They found my friend in an alley that was completely covered, they would have never found her if the owner hadn't gone to cut the grass," Mejia said.

Distraught relatives of a woman who was reported missing last Friday learned it was her body that was discovered Wednesday, but so far, police aren't releasing that woman's identity.

http://www.ksat.com/content/pns/ksa...nt-lot-had-been-reported-missing-by-fami.html
 
It does sound like they have a serial assaulter of prostitutes in the area. Reading through the facebook page, my only hope is that CPS take a big wide net and get all the kids of all those posters on Celia's page and try to rescue them from this sad underbelly lifestyle. I hope Celie's death isn't in vain, and somehow in the investigation LE and CPS get a big eyeful of the damage being done to the juveniles in this grouping of family/friends/partners in crime. Especially Celia's children, who were all three reported by Kens5 to be under the age of 10.
 
A man arrested in connection with the death of 15 year old Natalie Chavez has been named as a person of interest in Celia's murder.

Inmate charged with capital murder in death of teen found under bridge
http://www.ksat.com/content/pns/ksa...tal-murder-in-death-of-teen-found-under-.html
Avalos a person of interest in two other cases

Trevino is also calling Avalos a person of interest in two other cases.

On April 15, Celia Lopez, 29, was found dead on the 4400 block of South Presa. Lopez had suffered trauma to her head and face.

Natalie's thread:
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...-San-Antonio-Dec-2014&p=11853438#post11853438
 
Posted today in Natalie's thread.

Man already charged in teen’s death accused of killing second woman
Updated: Friday, June 19 2015, 08:30 PM CDT
http://www.foxsanantonio.com/news/f...eath-accused-killing-second-woman-13684.shtml
SAN ANTONIO -- A man already accused of sexually assaulting and killing a 15-year-old girl is now accused of killing a second woman.

28-year-old Johnny Avalos now faces a second murder charge for the death of 29-year-old Celia Lopez. Lopez' body was found in a vacant lot off South Presa near Fair Avenue back in April.

"It's one step closer for us getting closure," said Leslie Balderas, Lopez' older sister.
 
From September:

http://www.kens5.com/story/news/201...--interest--fourth-death-police-say/71959468/

A San Antonio man is now considered a "person of interest" in a fourth case where a female was found dead, according to police.

Johnny Avalos, 28, has been named by SAPD as a "person of interest" in the death of Rosemary Perez. Perez' body was found on the side of the road in the 2100 block of San Fernando Street in January...

The third charge is in the death of Genevieve Ramirez. The 46-year-old woman was found unconscious in an alley in the 100 block of Avondale Avenue in April without any clothes below the waist, brutally beaten. The medical examiner confirmed she died on June 18.

http://kagstv.com/News/KAGSNews/ID/11036/KENS-5-EXCLUSIVE-Suspected-SA-killer-hints-at-fifth-victim

During an exclusive interview with KENS 5, Johnny Joe Avalos said he's been keeping a secret: more murder victims...

The 28-year-old does not deny he has killed three women and a teenage girl. As a matter of fact, when given the names of the victims, he seemed unbothered by the topic...
 
Watching from the gallery, Celia Lopez's brother and two sisters looked on as their sister's accused killer, Johnny Avalos entered the courtroom in chains and a red jumpsuit. Missing among the family, their mother, 55-year-old Maria Avila, who spends her days in a white jumpsuit.

"It's something that you need to be a part of but you're not able to be because of my own consequences have to be paid as well,” Avila says. She's serving a 15 year sentence in Gatesville after being convicted on a heroin charge in May, 2014.

Celia was killed in April 2015. Avalos is charged with murder in the death of Lopez, 29. He’s also charged with capital murder and sexual assault in the killing of 15-year-old Natalie Chavez. We have previously reported that San Antonio Police say Avalos has been charged in the death of 45-year-old Genevieve Ramirez and considered a person of interest in the murder of 27-year-old Rosemary Perez.
http://news4sanantonio.com/news/loc...-and-accused-killers-upcoming-trial-from-afar
 
The trial against a San Antonio man accused of killing multiple women last year will move forward as a death penalty case, for now. That decision is a story we broke last week.

"It's a matter of justice,” Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood says.

By the time 29-year-old Celia Lopez's body was found in a field, her accused killer was already sitting in the Bexar County Jail. Johnny Avalos was there because police say he sexually assaulted and strangled 15-year-old Natalie Chavez. San Antonio police say he also killed 45-year-old Genevieve Ramirez, and is considered a person of interest in the murder of 27-year-old Rosemary Perez.

(...)

In December, the trial will be scheduled.
http://news4sanantonio.com/news/loc...th-penalty-against-avalos-will-keep-open-mind
 
A man arrested in connection with the death of 15 year old Natalie Chavez has been named as a person of interest in Celia's murder.

Inmate charged with capital murder in death of teen found under bridge
http://www.ksat.com/content/pns/ksa...tal-murder-in-death-of-teen-found-under-.html


Natalie's thread:
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...-San-Antonio-Dec-2014&p=11853438#post11853438

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...hnny-Joe-Avalos-29-4-counts-of-capital-murder

Maybe a mod can link relevant victims in this story. It's a brutal, sad case, but the person responsible will likely
face the death penalty.
 
Indictments released Tuesday allege a San Antonio man killed four women in the span of five months.

Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood said the new indictments take into account that accused killer Johnny Joe Avalos, 29, is charged with capital murder in a series of four separate murders from Dec. 2014 to April 2015.

Avalos is charged in the deaths of Natalie Chavez, 15; Rosemary Perez, 28; Celia Ann Lopez, 29; and Genevieve Ramirez, 46.

“That’s what we call serial murder enhancement. The statute allows for that,” LaHood said. He said if they had occurred all at one time, it would be mass murder, but the district attorney said that doesn’t change the fact his office will seek the death penalty.
http://www.ksat.com/news/da-lahood-...d-serial-killer-to-four-deaths-sexual-assault
 
An accused serial killer from San Antonio was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

Accused San Antonio Serial Killer Sentenced to Life in Prison

As part of his plea agreement, Avalos admitted to killing Vanessa Lopez in 2012, Natalie Chavez in 2014, Rosemary Perez in 2015 and Celia Lopez in 2015, according to the report. He also admitted to a 2015 attack on Genevieve Ramirez, who later died of her injuries.
 

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