GUILTY NM - Matthew Gurule, 32, Marine, murdered, Belen, 26 Jul 2019 *vehicle on fire* *arrest*

Family organizes search for missing veteran

“... 32-year-old Matthew Gurule was last seen leaving Isleta Casino on Saturday. His burnt vehicle was found later that morning.

The combat Marine veteran is 5-foot-8, weighs 190 pounds, and he has tattoos on both of his arms.

A search party is being organized by his family Saturday in Belen. They’ll meet at 3 p.m. in Rio Communities near where his car was found, at the end of Goodman Road past the water tank.”

Snipped and BBM.

Last seen leaving a casino always raises my alarm.

How far was his burnt vehicle from the casino? Any locals here?
 
Belen Marine vet still missing; search party planned for tomorrow afternoon

Gurule, 32, called his mother, SM, about 12:30 a.m., Saturday July 27, telling her he was being asked to leave the Isleta Casino.

“He said he wasn’t feeling good, throwing up,” B said. “When she talked to him, he wasn’t sloppy drunk or incoherent.”

Lots of information in this article. Matthew served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He suffers from PTSD and takes medications for it. Ugh. We need to find Matthew!
 
Ok, so I'm trying to make sense of this story.

  • Matt inherited a piece of property from his Dad and had moved back to NM a few months ago.
  • He was living with with his cousins on Paseo Arbolado on Belen's west mesa while he worked on the property.
  • Matt left the house on the West Mesa at about 9:30 p.m., Friday, July 26, telling the people he was staying with he was going to buy food for his dog, Matilda.
  • It's not known if he actually bought the dog food.
  • Somehow he ends up at the Isleta Casino that night.
  • He calls his Mom in Texas at 12:30 AM, Saturday July 27th and tells her he is being asked to leave the casino. He also said he wasn't feeling good, was throwing up.
  • No one hears from Matt again after the call to Mom.
  • Family files a missing person report on Monday, July 29th.
  • Firefighters respond to a report of a car fire Saturday, 12:30 AM, off of Manzano Expressway, east of the Chamesa subdivision. The car is later identified as Matt's Honda Accord.
 
Throwing up could suggest someone put something in his drink at the casino.

Does Matthew drink?

Did he win any money at the casino?

IMO, his car being found on fire more than 20 miles away from the casino strongly suggests foul play
 
Family launches search parties for missing Marine

Some new/ additional info in this article:
  • Matthews phone is off. His mom says the phone last pinged from a cell tower near Gabaldon Road before it shut off.
  • Area where car was found burning described as “desolate.” His mom SM said, “I don't think he would come out to this desolate area and leave his dog at home.”
  • Matthews family has flown in from TX to search for him.
 
Tried to start a map.

Black dots represent:
  1. Isleta Casino: Matthew calls mom and says was asked to leave casino at 12:30am on Saturday July 27
  2. Gabaldon Road: Matthew’s mom says his cell phone last pinged tower near Gabaldon
  3. Goodman Ave/Rio Communities area: Valencia County firefighters were called out at 12:30pm on Saturday July 27 about a burning car. The “badly burned” car was Matthew’s car (which was a 2006 or 2007 Honda Accord).
 

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Throwing up could suggest someone put something in his drink at the casino.

Does Matthew drink?

Did he win any money at the casino?

IMO, his car being found on fire more than 20 miles away from the casino strongly suggests foul play

That's what I wondered about too, could someone have slipped something in his drink causing him to act out and they asked him to leave? Surely they have cameras in the parking area, did he leave alone?

Lots of comments here KOB 4
 
That's what I wondered about too, could someone have slipped something in his drink causing him to act out and they asked him to leave? Surely they have cameras in the parking area, did he leave alone?
Yes. We are on the same track!

I’m curious about whether his wallet, keys and phone were in his burning car.

I really appreciate guys like Matthew serving our country. He survives combat to come home and have something terrible happen?!

Does PTSD cause amnesia? If something at the casino triggered it, could it have manifested with feeling physically ill?

I guess best case scenario is something triggered him and he drove to the middle of nowhere, torched his car, and is wandering the streets or hitched a ride somewhere.
 
LE should be able to look at casino surveillance video, with tribal permission if casino is on reservation or tribal owned. Lots of squirrelly stuff goes on @ bars in these type of places. Lots of tourists,money changing hands, locals employed there..... I'll be nice and just say easy marks when visitors are alone.
Predatory people search for people that are alone and vulnerable. Just the way the world is in casinos :(
 
We don't have any information on his state of mind that night, but there are some posts on his facebook page could be telling.

I like your scenario of him having a break with reality and taking off somewhere, better than what I was thinking. Some of the comments on the KOB link I posted seem to indicate that people have been followed out of the casino before.

Corrected map and removed comment. Had the wrong Gabaldon Road.
Google Maps
 
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We don't have any information on his state of mind that night, but there are some posts on his facebook page could be telling.

I like your scenario of him having a break with reality and taking off somewhere, better than what I was thinking. Some of the comments on the KOB link I posted seem to indicate that people have been followed out of the casino before.

So from where his car was found on fire to his last cell phone ping is a 41 mile difference. The casino is approximately mid-way between the two. That's quite a distance for someone who could have been on foot? Was the timing of the cell ping after the fire was reported, or vice versa?
://www.google.com/maps/dir/Goodman+Ave,+Rio+Communities,+NM+87002/Gabaldon+Rd+NW,+Albuquerque,+NM+87104/@34.876841,-106.8502586,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x8721fa09dd068e21:0x3bc94138c409b1e1!2m2!1d-106.7227709!2d34.6466678!1m5!1m1!1s0x872272da6fc1fb97:0xed10b7f9cfff42d1!2m2!1d-106.6842078!2d35.1071755!3e0
I think my map is wrong. I didn’t realize the last ping was that far away from where his vehicle was found.

Is gabaldon road not on the way from the casino to where his car was found at Goodman Ave? I thought it was. That would be interesting if his phone was turned off a long distance from where his car was found.
 
I think my map is wrong. I didn’t realize the last ping was that far away from where his vehicle was found.

Is gabaldon road not on the way from the casino to where his car was found at Goodman Ave? I thought it was. That would be interesting if his phone was turned off a long distance from where his car was found.

Nope you were correct, I had Gabaldon Road Northwest mapped. I fixed that in my post, thank you.

The car and last ping were 7 miles apart, the casino was appx 28 miles from where his car was located on Goodman.
 
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Family and friends search for missing veteran
  • Also included in the search today, his service dog who was always by Matthew’s side.
  • Matthew’s life was starting to drastically improve. He had just gotten a new job.
Includes video of search area where Matthew’s car was found on fire. They were not exaggerating when they described it as desolate. Appears to be in the middle of the desert. Very bizarre.
 
Yes. We are on the same track!

I’m curious about whether his wallet, keys and phone were in his burning car.

I really appreciate guys like Matthew serving our country. He survives combat to come home and have something terrible happen?!

Does PTSD cause amnesia? If something at the casino triggered it, could it have manifested with feeling physically ill?

I guess best case scenario is something triggered him and he drove to the middle of nowhere, torched his car, and is wandering the streets or hitched a ride somewhere.
With PTSD you can have the co-occurring presence of dissociative amnesia a trauma-associated disorder that frequently accompanies PTSD. The conditions are normally diagnosed separately, but the amnesia may occur AFTER the onset of PTSD. What Is Dissociative Amnesia?
 
Persons of interest arrested in connection to disappearance of Marine
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August 09, 2019 07:26 PM

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Police have arrested two persons of interest in connection to the disappearance of 32-year-old Matthew Gurule, who is still missing.

Police say they arrested a man and a woman at a car wash. They had been using Gurule's credit card in Belen.

Persons of interest arrested in connection to disappearance of Marine
 
Two people arrested in connection with case of missing Belen veteran

“...[Matthews mom] was there when officers arrested the duo and says saw a sign of her son in the suspect’s truck. “I saw Matthew’s tools. He has a leather tool belt and I’m 99.9% sure that was his,” she says.

Right now, Belen Police are waiting for a judge to sign off on a search warrant so they can look for more evidence in the couple’s vehicle. They are currently being held at the Valencia County Detention Center.”

So the POIs have Matthew’s credit card and tools. Glad they are holding them on charges. Need to sleuth the POIs now that they have been named.

Where is MATTHEW?
 

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