Socorro woman's disappearance a mystery

POLVADERA, N.M. (KRQE) - The case of Lily Lopez is getting cold three months after the Socorro woman vanished from her boyfriend's property.

Lopez, 33, disappeared in mid-April. Boyfriend Michael Quintana who was apparently the last person to see her but didn't report her missing for five days.

Quintana told investigators and KRQE News 13 that Lopez was outside his home in Polvadera 10 miles north of Socorro when he left to buy beer.

"She was talking on the cell phone with somebody, and we drove over the ditch," Quintana said. "When we came back she wasn't there no more."

Quintana said he wasn't initially concerned about her absence.

"When she didn't come home that night, I says, 'Well, maybe went with Craig;' that's her ex in Albuquerque," he said. "And when she didn't come the next day, I figured that's probably where she's at."

Lopez is a mother of five, and Quintana claimed he also waited to avoid conflict with the Children, Youth and Families department.

"She has been in trouble with CFYD, and I didn't want to get her in trouble because of the baby here and stuff like that," Quintana said.

Five days had passed when Quintana said he found one of Lopez's shoes by an irrigation ditch in front of his home. That's when he called authorities.

"Lilly, I don't know whether she knew how to swim or not," Quintana said. "The way I picture it was she went in face first."

However Socorro County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Shorty Vaiza disagreed with that premise saying and the evidence doesn't back it up. Investigators also found Lopez's other shoe in a car on Quintana's property, he said.

"We never found any indication of anybody trying to get back up if she did go in the river," Quintana said.

Vaiza said investigators remain hopeful Lopez is alive while Quintana said he doesn't think so.

While showing pictures of Lopez Quintana also mentioned that his late wife Jacqueline remains the subject of an unsolved murder.

"Jacqueline was killed blunt trauma to the head," Quintana said. "She was in a coma for five before they unplugged her."

Meanwhile the sheriff's department is short on fresh clues in Lopez's disappearance. They've scoured the irrigation ditches, followed up all leads and not named any potential suspects.

Anyone with information about Lopez's disappearance can call the Socorro County Sheriff's Department at 575-835-0941.