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Garrett Moreland
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Peyton Moreland
It's like, why didn't this exist before now?
Garrett Moreland
It's so cool.
Peyton Moreland
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Peyton Moreland
You'Re listening to an Ono Media podcast. Hey everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with my husband. I'm Peyton Moreland.
Garrett Moreland
And I'm Garrett Moreland.
Peyton Moreland
And he's the husband.
Garrett Moreland
And I'm the husband.
Peyton Moreland
Okay, I'm pretty sure I have really great news.
Garrett Moreland
What?
Peyton Moreland
We have new Strangey Danger merch available right now.
Garrett Moreland
I'M gonna not gonna lie every time. No, no, listen to me.
Peyton Moreland
They're not gonna believe you.
Garrett Moreland
Say it's my favorite strangey daingy merch.
Peyton Moreland
Oh, it's my favorite merch, hands down.
Garrett Moreland
Really?
Peyton Moreland
Yeah. It's my favorite one we've ever done.
Garrett Moreland
Extremely comfortable sizes is good, are good.
Peyton Moreland
Boxy, fit, oversized, cute freaking sweatshirt. You can wear it anywhere.
Garrett Moreland
Yeah, no, it's actually. It's nice. I wore it yesterday.
Peyton Moreland
It looks trendy.
Garrett Moreland
You're gonna love it. New strangey dangey merch. Check it out in the description. It'll be everywhere on all of our social medias. We love you guys and we hope you love it.
Peyton Moreland
Stranger. Dangey has been highly, highly requested, probably, I think, our most requested merch option. So, yeah, if you wanted it and you didn't get it, go get it right now. Do you got 10, 15, 20 seconds for us?
Garrett Moreland
Well, hockey season is over. Unless your team made the playoffs. Ours didn't. So hockey season's over, and now we're getting into golf season. For all those who golf out there, the Masters was on recently. It was so good. Honestly, it was. It was such a good Masters. Loved it. Watched the majority of it. Congrats, Rory. Yeah. Dude, golf so hard. Golf season's coming up. I'm gonna try to golf a couple of times, lose a bunch of balls, and wait for the winter to come. Basically what happens every single season. One of these days, I'll be really good at golf. But today's not the day.
Peyton Moreland
I don't think you're bad.
Garrett Moreland
No, I'm not bad, but I don't go enough to be good. Like, I'd have to be going three times a week, four times a week. I don't do that.
Peyton Moreland
Yeah, that's just like, not really attainable. Like, sustainable.
Garrett Moreland
Like, could I do it? Sure. Is that a lot of time? A lot of time.
Peyton Moreland
I don't know.
Garrett Moreland
Maybe I'll try golfing more. Pick up a lesson here and there. I wouldn't consider myself bad, but I also wouldn't consider myself good. I'd say I'm mediocre when it comes to golf, but I'm not gonna lie, I can drive the ball pretty well.
Peyton Moreland
Me too.
Garrett Moreland
That's what we got going on. Also, there is a golf company that recently. Recently sent me some stuff.
Peyton Moreland
We despond. We did an ad.
Garrett Moreland
We did an ad for them. They're called pxg. So if you want to check it out, go check it out.
Peyton Moreland
Okay. You guys, reminder, we have two other shows in Ono Media, my solo show, into the Dark. Our true crime news show, Rise in Crime. Just been a second since I talked about them and sometimes I forget not everyone knows. Yeah, so Rise in Crime is current news. True crime news twice a week. And then into the Dark is basically murder with my husband minus the husband once a week. So yeah, go check them out if you need more content to binge. That being said, let's get into our case sources for today's episode. Our sources for this episode are oxygen.com news3lv.com 8news now.com half pricelawyers.com people.com wpde.com reviewjournal.com, law and crime.com sinsandsurvivors.com and ktnv.com so I think it's safe to say that for most of us listening to this, social media feels unavoidable these days. I'm always shocked when someone tells me they've managed to stay off social media because I think, like, how it just doesn't even feel possible. And the way I see it, Instagram and TikTok are ways to stay updated with people in our lives. For others, it's a way to make new friends and connect with people that have similar interests. And sometimes it's just a way to not feel alone in this world. But the thing with social media is you sometimes never know who is looking at your profile, who is waiting for your updates, looking to connect with you through a screen. Especially when you're someone with a big following. Which is why when an influencer goes missing these days, the police often turn to social media to see what was happening in their DMs. But today's case is a reminder that while social media and the people we encounter on it can certainly be unpredictable, the real threat doesn't happen online. It happens in the real world. So for today's case, we are turning back the clock to 2019 and we are heading to Las Vegas to meet 24 year old Esmeralda Gonzalez. Now, unlike a lot of people living in Vegas, Esmeralda's not a transplant. She's actually spent most of her life there. She and her two brothers grew up in the historic neighborhood of West Las Vegas. Maybe not a place you'd venture to if you were looking for casinos, nightclubs, but for Esmeralda and her family, this was home. Her family was from Michoacan, Mexico, and came to the states in the 90s looking for opportunities. I looked it up and that's how you Say it. I'm pretty sure that was a good, good babe. That's how I it said. But if I did say it wrong, don't blame me. Blame the Internet. So born on May 26, 1995.
Garrett Moreland
Wait, my birthday is May 26, 1994. That's kind of crazy. I'm not gonna lie. The year after you, esmeralda, all the May 26s unite. Also interesting time to be an influencer. 2019. Mm, I feel like that was definitely like, before influencing has feel like has really blown up, but still like, oh, wow, you have a lot of followers on Instagram. That's crazy. How did you do that sort of thing? Yeah, but not really like, oh, I'm making tons of money blow up yet.
Peyton Moreland
Maybe. I feel like the 2020.
Garrett Moreland
Yeah, I feel like 202021 is when all of a sudden the crazy money maybe started coming in for influencers. Maybe they were making good money before. I don't know. But I'm not an influencer. Don't ask me.
Peyton Moreland
Yeah, I definitely feel like influencing was known. Well known in 2019, but not maybe as common. Yeah, as like everyone trying to be.
Garrett Moreland
An influencer type thing until Tick tock came along and.
Peyton Moreland
Right.
Garrett Moreland
Yeah.
Peyton Moreland
So she's born in Mexico, and then her and her family come to the states in the 90s. So Esmeralda really couldn't have been older than five when the family found the small community in Vegas and decided to go there and call it their own. So while the Gonzalez is strongly believed in working hard and keeping their heads down to achieve the American dream, Esmeralda wasn't exactly the kind of girl who was, you know, keen on living a quiet, modest life in the shadows. She had big plans for her future, and she knew with the perfect cocktail of brains and beauty that the right doors would open for her in time and what she wanted. So as Esmerelda got older, she began participating in beauty pageants while also staying after school for the chess club. And while Esmeralda was the only female in the chess club, that sort of spoke to the kind of person she was. She wasn't someone who was easily intimidated or willing to back down. After graduating from high school, Esmeralda knew she wanted to stay local. Her family meant the world to her, and she never wanted to venture far. So she chose to attend the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. And there she began studying for her bachelor's degree in communications. But even during her college years, Esmeralda kept her eye on the prize. She became a member of UNLV's chapter of the National Society for Leadership and Success, and actually had plans to go on to law school after she finished her undergrad degree. Now, Esmeralda, like many girls her age, also had dreams of becoming a mother one day, starting her own family that she could be proud of, much like the life her parents had built for her. But for the time being, Esmeralda was content just being a dog mom to her miniature poodle that she named Bonita. Now, especially because she wasn't in a rush to settle down. Quite the opposite, actually. In 2018, Esmeralda's Instagram started growing, popping off. Her following started growing. And you have to think this was similar to the time we were going through college.
Garrett Moreland
Yes.
Peyton Moreland
And it was really that time of, like, influencing became.
Garrett Moreland
Started becoming just really well known.
Peyton Moreland
It was like, whoa, there's people making money off Instagram with tons of followers like Instagram famous. And so she was getting to enjoy plenty of perks that came along with being this influencer. So if you think about it, Esmeralda was already in the perfect place to grow a following. She had a backdrop of one of the craziest cities in the world, and she was candid about sharing her nights out and the outfits and accessories she sported while doing it. Safe to say, Esmeralda was a little ahead of the game. So by 2018, she had close to 300,000 followers. In 2018.
Garrett Moreland
Well, that's a lot.
Peyton Moreland
Yes. And her profile included credits like BA in communications, entrepreneur, real estate investor, social scientist, and foreign model. I think back then, Instagram bios were a little bit more about, like, a LinkedIn profile instead of like an Instagram bio. Yeah, you know, so Esmeralda was definitely doing well for herself as an influencer, because it seems this helped her bring in quite a bit of cash in 2018. Suddenly, she was sporting designer shoes, bags. She had a $40,000 Rolex. And when she turned 23 that year, she was even able to purchase her first house on her own at 23. 23 now. Meanwhile, Esmeralda's love life also seemed to be blossoming. She had been seeing her boyfriend, Luis Merlo, for some time now, though the two hadn't taken the steps to move in together yet. For now, Esmeralda was still enjoying her independence and soaking up any chance she could to spend time with her family, including the day of her 24th birthday. That's May 26, 2019. Now, little did Esmeralda's family know everything was about to change for her, and not for the better. So on the afternoon of May 31st. This is after her birthday. A week after celebrating her birthday, Esmeralda's brother Juan went by her house to check on her. He hadn't heard from his sister for the last day or so, which wasn't normal, and so he was starting to get worried. So he gets to his sister's house, goes up to her front door, knocks, and no one answers. But even more alarming, he realizes that his sister's front door is unlocked. So Juan is able to let himself inside, which is completely unlike Esmeralda. She's usually very responsible, would never leave her front door unlocked, especially because she was someone who lived alone and also liked her privacy. Now Juan starts calling her name around the house. At first, he thinks she couldn't have gone far, because when he pulled in, he noticed her car was still in her driveway. Plus, her purse and wallet are inside the house, but he can't find her phone. And there's one thing about the house that really seems to scare Juan. The second he goes inside, it's a disaster. And it's not that he necessarily thinks that someone has kidnapped Esmeralda when he sees the state of the house, because he's actually seen Esmerelda's personal belongings in a state like this before.
Garrett Moreland
Okay.
Peyton Moreland
What it had been in the past and what it looks like now to Juan is that Esmeralda might have had another mental health episode.
Garrett Moreland
Got it.
Peyton Moreland
This was something she had been struggling with on and off for a while, according to Juan.
Garrett Moreland
Got it. So a little bit of a breakdown, maybe throwing stuff everywhere, something like that.
Peyton Moreland
Well, Esmeralda had actually been diagnosed in the past with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Now, I'm not sure how long she was battling these illnesses, but I know she had been prescribed medication for both of them, and they really did seem to help her, according to Juan. But just a week ago, at her birthday party, Esmeralda had actually confided in her brother Juan that she had been struggling again. She wasn't sure if her medications were working anymore. Maybe she just needed to get her dosage changed. So when he didn't hear from her. And then he goes to her house, sees her car, sees her stuff. No phone. And sees the state the house is in. He's worried. He's immediately worried, which is why he's even there. So he actually thinks Esmeralda might be in Vegas somewhere in an unhealthy state of mind. He knows. Without her medication, Esmeralda has a hard time grappling with her perception of reality, which as we know, can be dangerous for any human being. But before he lets the panic set in, Juan decides to get in touch with Esmeralda's newish boyfriend, Luis. See if maybe they're just together somewhere. Only this conversation leaves Juan even more unsettled because Louise says to him that the last time he saw Esmeralda was actually yesterday. So the day before. And things didn't go well between the two of them, so they weren't necessarily talking. He noticed that Esmeralda wasn't acting right. Whether or not he knew about her mental health history, I'm not sure. But he said he could tell something was definitely off with her. And then Luis admits he took Esmeralda's cell phone and her car keys, trying to help keep her safe because she just wasn't in a very good frame of mind. Now, knowing that Esmeralda isn't with her boyfriend either and doesn't have these personal items, Juan gets the police involved.
Garrett Moreland
What a good brother, by the way.
Peyton Moreland
Yeah, like really following these steps, trying to figure out. And he tells the police the last time he saw Esmeralda. And then also the story he got from Luis, her boyfriend, he's like, this is what her boyfriend told me. And for a police officer investigating a case, the first people you're going to consider in a situation like this, boyfriend, husband, goes close to the missing person. Especially because when they decide to look in Luis's past immediately, they just immediately off their bat are like, let's just pull, pull him up. They find he's not exactly squeaky clean. Are you worried about your liver health? I found just the thing to help you get back on track. Dose for your liver was formulated to cleanse your liver of unwanted elements, aid digestion and maintain your body's natural filter. And why does this matter? Your liver is the second largest organ in your body and is responsible for over 500 functions. It acts as your body's filter, flushing out toxins and breaking down what you consume into essential nutrients. The liver also produces and regulates cholesterol, stores vitamins and minerals, and impacts digestive and metabolic health, among so many other critical functions.
Garrett Moreland
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Peyton Moreland
Hola Hola. No habla espanol.
Garrett Moreland
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Peyton Moreland
Thanks. And because conversing in the is the key to really understanding each other in new languages, Babel is designed using practical real world conversations. As you guys know, I always use Babel to touch up on my Spanish before we travel because Garrett can speak Spanish fluently and I always get left behind. And honestly because I've been using bab can kind of like keep up on the topics and definitely could communicate in times of need.
Garrett Moreland
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Peyton Moreland
Let's get more of you talking in a new language. Babel is gifting our listeners 60 off subscriptions@babel.com husband get up to 60% off@babel.com husband you guys, if you're going to sign up for Babel, you need to use this B A b b e l.com husband babel.com husband rules and restrictions may apply. Just a couple weeks before, police had been called to Esmeralda's house over a domestic violence incident involving Luis. And I don't know the details of what happened that night, but I know this is obviously going to be an immediate red flag for detectives a couple weeks before they get called for domestic violence. And now she's missing. She's missing. So they call Luis to try and get him to come down for questioning or at the very least to hand over Esmeralda's cell phone and keys so they can dig further into her call and text history and maybe even get into her car. But Luis doesn't do himself any favors at this point, he's not very cooperative. He actually gives the evidence to his attorney to hand over to the police, which I'm not necessarily saying is a bad idea, but to the police, it seems a little shady.
Garrett Moreland
No, it's not a bad idea. I mean, I think that if you went missing and that's what I would do.
Peyton Moreland
Oh, yeah. I mean, I think, considering day and age.
Garrett Moreland
Correct. And I know it's hard because it does raise red flags for police, but I think also 20, 25, detectives and police in general need to realize people do it for actually more safety now than.
Peyton Moreland
Yeah. Than trying to hide.
Garrett Moreland
That was 2018. So.
Peyton Moreland
Right.
Garrett Moreland
2019, it's a little bit different.
Peyton Moreland
Right.
Garrett Moreland
But yeah.
Peyton Moreland
So meanwhile, investigators realize there's something inside Esmeralda's house that they now actually have investigated that might actually help them get to the bottom of her disappearance, and that is security cameras. Though once they pull the footage from the security cameras at Esmeralda's house, they find nothing. It's just Esmeralda wandering her house, going about her business, which is great for Luis. He's not pictured in the house at all before Esmeralda disappears out the front door alone on May 30 and doesn't come back. So the question now is, nothing happened to her at the house, where did she go? And is Luis involved? So days pass as detectives dig deeper into Esmeralda's life, looking for any clue. And what they have put together is a brief timeline. So this is what they know so far. Esmerelda argued with Luis the afternoon of May 30. She leaves her house that same night and doesn't come back home. She's never seen again on camera. And then her family reports her missing the following day, the afternoon of May 31. So without much to work off of this early in the investigation, police turn to a new pool of suspects. Pretty big one. Esmeralda's social media following. I mean, when a celebrity is murdered, it's not that weird to say, did she have or he have any stalkers?
Garrett Moreland
So they rolled out the boyfriend for sure.
Peyton Moreland
No, they're just trying to look at other goals. Yeah. So when someone attracts that much attention online, she has close to 300, 000 followers. You have to consider whether there was someone who had taken an interest in her, especially because she wrote one very obvious thing on her Instagram profile, and that was no dms. She doesn't want to talk to people. She makes this clear.
Garrett Moreland
Okay.
Peyton Moreland
So they start to wonder why. Like, why all of a sudden Is she closing off her DMs? Was there someone in the past who had been harassing her? She was probably no stranger to people messaging her online and I doubt it was always kind or appropriate.
Garrett Moreland
I also can't remember they've changed Instagram so much from then until now. What filters were in place, what restrictions, safety blocking. I know there was that stuff, but I don't know to what extent there was in 2019. It's just, it's been so long.
Peyton Moreland
I'm trying to think because I worked social media.
Garrett Moreland
Yeah, I run that.
Peyton Moreland
2018. No, no, 2019.
Garrett Moreland
No, 20. 2018-2020.
Peyton Moreland
Well, 2022 actually, but.
Garrett Moreland
Oh, you're right. Yeah. Yeah. So maybe you did start 2019.
Peyton Moreland
I'm trying to think if the requests thing for people with a high number of followers was a thing because I'm pretty sure it used to be that anyone could DM you.
Garrett Moreland
Yeah, anyone could DM you. There wasn't. You couldn't restrict people.
Peyton Moreland
And there was a lot. I mean, now if you have a certain number of followers, if you didn't know your message actually goes into like a request folder and then that person has to go check separately check the request folder and scroll through and then like accept a message. And some people don't even check their request folder, so they don't even get eyes on your dm, if that makes sense. So I don't know if that was a thing at this point. And I mean police are going through her comments on her photos and they were just random, you know, creepers commenting, you should marry me, which is you should go out sometime.
Garrett Moreland
Normal with social media, unfortunately, nothing out of the ordinary.
Peyton Moreland
And it also wasn't just that she did have like some very, I don't want to say like risque, but I mean there are people who would have considered her pictures risque. So that can draw a certain attention.
Garrett Moreland
Then she have like foreign model or something.
Peyton Moreland
Yes. And then also, I mean she post about her luxurious life. She posted that she had a forty thousand dollar Rolex. This is like catnip to robbers, so they have to take that into consideration as well. Was someone keeping an eye on Esmeralda? Did they find out where she lived and then waited for her to leave? As police dig into this very large suspect pool, Juan is doing his own due diligence, trying to locate his sister. He and the family are posting flyers around town, spreading the word through Facebook, anything they can to find Esmeralda. And it works. A neighbor of Esmeralda's comes forward to say they actually noticed something odd around 2:30am on May 31. And she didn't really realize it was that strange. The neighbor didn't until she got word that Esmeralda was missing. So security footage caught Esmeralda lingering in the neighbor's driveway before approaching her neighbor's front door and knocking at 2:30am in this footage, Esmeralda is dressed in only lingerie and high heels, and she's not walking very steady. She seems very confused.
Garrett Moreland
She's out of sorts, drugged or. Or drunk.
Peyton Moreland
And when the neighbor wakes up and notices Esmeralda on her front door, they tell her, hey, you have the wrong house. And Esmeralda quickly responds, oh, I do. Okay, thank you, and leaves the property. She doesn't put up a fight. She isn't combative, just apologetic and moves on. And you have to think the neighbor is like, who is this person? You know? But that's not the only tip police receive. After that, there's another one. One that starts to help them build an even more concrete timeline. So Luis takes Esmeralda's car keys sometime on the morning of May 30, because they're in a fight and she's not acting normal. Later that day, someone reported seeing Esmeralda at a local BMW car dealership. So police go, and they find video footage that confirms this tip. Esmeralda is walking through the lobby of this dealership in lingerie and heels. So the same outfit, but this time during the day. This is the same outfit she'll be seen wearing later that night at the neighbor's front door. Okay, that's kind of weird, but this is Vegas. So the people who worked at the dealership didn't kick her out. Honestly, they didn't even really find it that strange. This could be her work attire. They thought maybe she's a dancer on her way to work. But Esmeralda is there for another reason. She wants to get another key to her car since her boyfriend had took hers. The catch is she's not alone at this BMW dealership. She's with another man. It's a gentleman in his 40s or 50s who seems to be walking with her. But he's not acting suspicious in any way. He looks more like a friend trying to help her out. So police sound the alarms on this. They have to figure out who this stranger is with Esmeralda. Basically, the day she disappears, the family doesn't recognize him. So they start posting photos of him on the local news. And they get a hit. The guy himself comes forward and says, I saw that you're looking for me. My name is Brent Smith. Now, Brent Smith lives very close to Esmeralda. He's actually another neighbor of hers, but he didn't know her before that day. That's like, from what I can tell is that he didn't know her very well, though, he says, plain and simple. Esmeralda approached me on the 30th and told me that her boyfriend took her keys and she needed a new set. She asked me if I could give her a ride to the dealership. And me being a good neighbor, I said, sure. Now, Brent would, of course, be considered a person of interest in all of this, except after that trip to the dealership, Esmeralda got dropped back off at home, and she was seen on her interior surveillance cameras after that. This is before she leaves the house for good later that night.
Garrett Moreland
So he's cleared? Basically, yeah.
Peyton Moreland
Yes. This means Brent probably is the good neighbor he claims to be, because he did drop her off.
Garrett Moreland
Yeah.
Peyton Moreland
And then hours after that, I think.
Garrett Moreland
He was like, dang, I'm dropping her off and she's wearing lingerie.
Peyton Moreland
Our. I don't know. I don't know. Is this normal in Vegas? Like, I just don't know.
Garrett Moreland
I don't know. I don't live in Vegas.
Peyton Moreland
But he also. I mean, he's probably like, wait, you're telling me that I meet her for the first time, I take her, and now she's, like, missing?
Garrett Moreland
Missing?
Peyton Moreland
Yeah.
Garrett Moreland
That's kind of freaky.
Peyton Moreland
So as we know, she's going to leave the house, and then hours after that drop off, around 2:30am she's going to be seen at a different neighbor's door being told she's at the wrong house, but never actually go back to her own house, even though she's in her own neighborhood. So police are now wondering, okay, what's the next step? Where did Esmeralda disappear to after that? There's been no usage on her credit cards, no activity on any of her social accounts, including her Instagram profile.
Garrett Moreland
That's not good.
Peyton Moreland
Nothing that shows proof of life from Esmeralda after May 31 at 2:30am yeah, the police are starting to hit dead ends. It is now July 18th. She went missing May 30th. It's now July 18th. And another tip comes in, and this one really hits the gas. So that day, an anonymous caller gets in touch with Las Vegas police to say they have a name of someone that they are certain is connected to Esmeralda Gonzalez's disappearance.
Garrett Moreland
Let's hear it.
Peyton Moreland
And the tipster says actually it's two names. 45 year old Christopher Prestipino and his roommate, 39 year old Cassandra Garrett.
Garrett Moreland
Don't bring me into this case. Take. Keep me out of this, please.
Peyton Moreland
Keep my name out of this.
Garrett Moreland
Keep my name out of this crap.
Peyton Moreland
So we have 45 year old Christopher and 39 year old, 39 year old Cassandra and they are roommates. So this tipster, this anonymous tipster says that back in May, Christopher and Cassandra mentioned to them having killed a woman. And.
Garrett Moreland
What? Sorry, that was a very, very aggressive. What?
Peyton Moreland
Well, and the tipster tells police that after, according to this, these roommates, after they killed this woman, they took her out to the Nevada desert in a U haul and left her body out there.
Garrett Moreland
Give me a break, dude.
Peyton Moreland
Now if this tip is accurate, it means that Esmeralda's case is no longer a missing person's case. It's a homicide.
Garrett Moreland
Homicide. Yeah.
Peyton Moreland
And because the tip is just so specific, it'd be foolish of them not to look into Christopher's background. I mean the, the two names that were brought to them. So they do and they find that Christopher works as a stagehand at the Paris Hotel, working for one of their shows there. But he also has a criminal background. He's been arrested before on charges related to drug use, though there's nothing violent on his record. So police have to take that into consideration.
Garrett Moreland
Drug use to murder is a pretty big jump.
Peyton Moreland
But here's the thing that really worries the police. Christopher Presto Pino and Cassandra Garrett. Their house is in the same neighborhood as Esmeralda's, actually just a few doors down. Now remember where Esmeralda was last seen alive in her neighborhood on camera at 2:30am at a different neighbor's house, being confused where she was, looking very out of it. And then they get a tip that two of her other neighbors are the ones who killed her. And that's where she was last seen was her own neighborhood. I mean this really lines up for police. This makes the most sense.
Garrett Moreland
I mean, I guess these cases never make sense when someone kills somebody. But like why would they kill her?
Peyton Moreland
Well, I just.
Garrett Moreland
Where is this going?
Peyton Moreland
I think to police it's like how did she die in her own neighborhood, just like steps away from her house? Yeah, this is really the only option is that one of the other neighbors got her before she got to her actual house. So knowing that Esmeralda was last seen wandering around the neighborhood, Chris and Cassandra are climbing to the top of the suspect list. Quickly. So investigators next move is to follow up on another little detail from that tipster. The fact that Chris rented a U Haul to get rid of Esmeralda's body. So they start calling local U Haul stores, and sure enough, one of them finds that a rental was made to a Christopher Presto Pino just days after Esmeralda went.
Garrett Moreland
Coming together.
Peyton Moreland
Okay, and on that contract is Christopher's phone number, email, home address. He did not even try to, like, use a fake name renting this U Haul.
Garrett Moreland
Nothing.
Peyton Moreland
Now, just as the police are making some moves on this case, another anonymous tip comes in telling police, if you want to find out what happened to Esmeralda, you should speak to this woman named Trisha Ought. And police are like, oh, my gosh, how many freaking tips can we get? Like, we're already. We already have a really, really.
Garrett Moreland
I don't understand why so many people know about the murder except the police.
Peyton Moreland
But it would be shoddy police work to not follow up every tip. So they track down Trisha, even though they feel like they're on the right path. And when they speak with her, they realize that this tipster actually was being helpful because she begins to connect the dots even more for police. She tells the police that in early June, a week or so after Esmeralda went missing, her friend Christopher Prestipino called her in the middle of the night. He told her he needed her help moving something large and asked if she could come over to the house right away. Trisha got out of bed, made the drive over, and when she got there, she found her friend Christopher blasting music and the TV so loud that she could barely speak to him. But also, Christopher was acting really paranoid. He was going on and on about a woman who had come over to his house, and he had tied her up, and maybe he accidentally killed her. This is now the second person he's opening his mouth to. Christopher cannot keep a secret.
Garrett Moreland
This is what I'm trying to say, though. Like, I mean, no one can comprehend it. It just the fact that this girl was out there and all of a. This random guy was like, oh, I'm gonna tie her up and I'm gonna kill her. I'm saying, like, how does that possibly go through somebody's mind?
Peyton Moreland
It's gross.
Garrett Moreland
It's insane.
Peyton Moreland
But that's not even the half of.
Garrett Moreland
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Peyton Moreland
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Garrett Moreland
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Peyton Moreland
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Garrett Moreland
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Peyton Moreland
Trisha sees some other really shady stuff while she's there that night trying to help her friend, I guess, move a body for Starters, that U Haul is sitting there in the driveway just waiting to be loaded up. And meanwhile, Cassandra, Christopher's roommate, is frantically cleaning out their garage. And according to Trisha, she's high on drugs. And the most chilling detail is there is a giant handmade wooden box in the garage. From pictures, it looks a little bit bigger than, like, a chest freezer. And apparently, that wooden box is what Chris needs help moving into the U Haul, getting it in. He said that him and his roommate Cassandra had been trying for hours, but were unsuccessful. So they called Trisha to see if the three of them could get it up. Now, later, having heard the news about this missing Esmeralda, Trisha was pretty certain that it was her body inside the box that she had helped move that night. Now, I want to be clear. Trisha is being forthcoming with police, but they came to her off of an anonymous tip.
Garrett Moreland
Yeah, because, I mean, I'm not saying that she's guilty of coalition.
Peyton Moreland
She should have went to the police.
Garrett Moreland
But come on, like, come on, let's not even. Let's not be naive here.
Peyton Moreland
The second you. You even had a premonition or thought, sorry. That it might have been this woman who disappeared in that exact neighborhood, and you might have helped move her body into a U Haul, you should have contacted police.
Garrett Moreland
Yeah.
Peyton Moreland
So after this, police feel pretty certain that Christopher is their guy. So they subpoena his phone records next. And they find something else that sort of confirms Trisha's story. So needless to say, they are just gluing everything together. They're just getting some. Some back end behind their evidence. So Christopher spent a lot of time at Home Depot. There's a specific Home Depot by his house after her disappearance. So they reach out to that store where his phone was constantly pinging. They ask for security footage, and sure enough, Christopher Prestopino takes multiple trips in and out of Home Depot, buying all of the supplies that someone would need to build a wooden box just like the one Tricia described. Wood, cement mix, lime drills, mixing paddles. And then on June 8, Christopher's phone records placed him somewhere else. That's kind of suspicious. That day, he spent multiple hours out in the middle of the Nevada desert. So police assume Christopher must have found a way to get that box inside the U Haul, and he was out there dumping it that day. So now investigators are getting closer to finding out what happened to Esmeralda. The issue is they only have Christopher's cell coordinates to work off of, and the Nevada desert is a pretty big place. So while they do multiple searches of the area, spanning hundreds and hundreds of miles of desert. They don't find anything. And that's when they realize as badly as they wanted to find Esmeralda before arresting Christopher, they were going to need to go directly to Christopher to find Esmeralda. So it's September by this point, and police decide that they're gonna actually start with finding Cassandra the roommate first. Only they quickly realize she's not even in Vegas anymore. She actually ran off to Wisconsin to her boyfriend's house. So police hop on a plane and knock on her boyfriend's door. And Cassandra's pretty good at playing dumb. She says she knows nothing about a U Haul or a missing girl, even though Trisha said she was there cleaning out the garage. In fact, she's really combative, which, of course, is not helpful. But for now, it's not enough to arrest her. So they move to the next phase. They need to get a warrant for Christopher's house back in Vegas. So on September 20th, they knock on his door, and as much as I hate to say it, they find nothing. They find no evidence that Esmeralda was ever inside his house, let alone killed there.
Garrett Moreland
Surprising.
Peyton Moreland
And Christopher insists over and over he has no idea who Esmeralda is. He's never seen her before. So police are getting frustrated. They feel like they have a lot of circumstantial evidence and a lot of tips against these people, but just nothing to, like, prove it. So this is when they realize that Christopher and Cassandra might actually just be roommates because Christopher has a girlfriend named Lisa Mort, who is in prison at this time. She's at a nearby detention center on some unrelated charges. I'm not sure what, but police had heard that she and Chris spoke over the phone regularly. So they actually wondered if maybe they could cut a deal with Lisa to kind of get more information and maybe even to testify against her boyfriend, Christopher. But when they question Lisa, she's also saying she knows nothing about the crime. It's just dead end after dead end. But police feel like they're so close, so they throw one final Hell Mary. In October, they connect with Cassandra the roommate again. They say to her, look, we're just willing to make a deal with you at this point. We're hot on your trail. We're inches away from making an arrest. But if you cooperate with us and you lead us to Esmeralda's body, we will fly you back to Vegas, let you get all of your affairs in order before we arrest you. Now, this is not a Conventional arrangement by any means. But it seems like maybe the guilt was just too much for Cassandra to bear, because that's when she caves and says, okay, let's do it. I'll do it. So on October 8th, Cassandra flies from Wisconsin to Nevada. And that same day, she gets in the car with detectives. She drives them out to the desert. But for hours, it seems like Cassandra's just leading them on. She keeps saying she doesn't remember exactly where it was. Nothing was looking familiar. Until they come to one particular rock formation, and she says, oh, this is it. So that's when a detective gets out of the car, climbs up to an embankment, looks down, and sees a giant, homemade wooden box lying there in the Vegas sand.
Garrett Moreland
Found it.
Peyton Moreland
So police actually have to call in for a crane to come and lift this structure out of the desert. And when they get it back to the lab, they have to call for firefighters to drill into it to see if the remains are inside. And sure enough, they find a body. But the level of decomposition is so bad that they can't even perform an autopsy.
Garrett Moreland
Oh, gosh, man.
Peyton Moreland
It's clear to investigators that foul play was involved with this body, though, because the victim's hands are still bound with rope. The only thing left to do is confirm that this is, in fact, Esmeralda. Which doesn't take long, because that Rolex watch, the one she's pictured wearing on Instagram, is in the box with her. And once her brother Juan locates the receipt, they are able to match the serial numbers, confirming this is definitely the Rolex that belongs to Esmeralda. And if that wasn't enough confirmation, the coroner's office also used some of the bone fragments to test the DNA. And when compared to Esmeralda's parents, it's a match. After more than five months, the mystery of Esmeralda's disappearance has been solved. There were a few questions that remained. Was Christopher a follower of Esmeralda's and did he kidnap her? Did they know each other? What happened the night she went missing? What led to her death? And how did she die? Well, now that Esmeralda was found, they were quickly able to get a warrant for Christopher's arrest. Problem was, his girlfriend, Lisa. Mort, the one in prison, had given him some advice a few days before. She told him that the police were on him. They called her, and he'd better leave the country while he still had time.
Garrett Moreland
No way he left.
Peyton Moreland
So he did exactly that. When police went to find him, they learned that he had taken off to Belize.
Garrett Moreland
Wow.
Peyton Moreland
Which Means police have to find another way to get him in handcuffs now. So they bug his phone, and they start listening in on his conversations. And just a few days after finding Esmeralda's body, they get lucky. On October 11, Christopher gets a call from Lisa, his girlfriend in jail. She says she's going to be getting out soon, and Christopher insists he needs to get back to be there to pick her up. Up. So he flies back to Vegas the following day, October 12th. And because police were listening to the phone call, they know this. And the second he lands, he gets a welcoming party. A handful of cops are waiting there to arrest him. By the way, Lisa Mort doesn't even make her way out of prison that day. She doesn't actually get out. She's arrested again on the day she's supposed to be released for being an accessory after the fact. About a week later, on October 20, Cassandra Garrett also gets a knock on the door and a set of silver handcuffs. And now, with all of the offenders in custody, police finally learn what happened to Esmeralda in the final hours of her life.
Garrett Moreland
Cassandra should have made a deal with them.
Peyton Moreland
So it's no secret that Esmeralda was likely off her medication and struggling, and it was no secret that she was wandering around the neighborhood asking for help from strangers. But apparently one of those strangers was a friend of Christopher and Cassandra's, and he found Esmeralda on the street that night, likely in the early hours after she rang the other neighbor's doorbell. So after 2:30am so they invite her into the house. They're all partying. And I think at some point, shortly after, the friend who had, like, gone outside and invited her in, left. But then Christopher, this is all, according to them, got Esmeralda high on methamphetamines. This, of course, only worsened her current mental state. And when she started behaving strangely, it scared Christopher. He grabbed some rope and tied her to a bedpost. According to him, Esmeralda got more erratic. She began screaming and thrashing. But Christopher and Cassandra said they were afraid to let her go at that point, thinking that she might call the police and turn them in. Eventually, Esmeralda starts calming down. Instead, they go to untie her. She starts fighting back. She attacks Christopher, punching him in the face. Christopher retaliates by trying to strangle her, ties her back up, throws some blankets over her, and then he goes downstairs, comes back up with a syringe filled with pool cleaner.
Garrett Moreland
Oh, and killed her.
Peyton Moreland
He injects it into her, and then he and Cassandra Go downstairs, they come back up to check on her later, and they find her dead. Christopher panics, devises his complicated plan to get rid of the body, which, as we know, doesn't work. Christopher Prestopino is indicted on charges of murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy. Cassandra Garrett faces the same charges, while Christopher's 31 year old girlfriend, Lisa Moore, is also charged with accessory to murder. Both Cassandra and Lisa, however, take a plea deal. Lisa's given 24 to 60 months with 151 days of credit for time served. Cassandra's sentenced to voluntary manslaughter and given 20 years with parole after eight. Christopher, on the other hand, thought he could fight the charges, at least at first. Early on, he entered a plea of not guilty. Later changed his mind to plead guilty via an Alford plea. We've talked about this before. It basically says you're maintaining your innocence while pleading guilty. So as a result, Christopher was sentenced to 10 to 25 years for second degree murder and five to 15 years for kidnapping. His sentences will run concurrently.
Garrett Moreland
Interesting. Okay. Curious to see when he gets out or if he gets out.
Peyton Moreland
It is kind of interesting because it appears that although a stranger, Christopher wasn't one of Esmerelda's online followers after all. Esmerelda just happened to find herself in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people in her own neighborhood. Which ultimately goes to show that while the Internet may seem like a scary place at times, sometimes it really is no match for what's lurking out in the real world. And that is the case of Esmeralda Gonzalez.
Garrett Moreland
Because at the beginning, you think it's the boyfriend, but he had nothing to do with it.
Peyton Moreland
Nothing. He had been trying to protect her.
Garrett Moreland
I'm just really confused why they wouldn't just let her go. Like, I feel like they're still lying about stuff. Do they torture her?
Peyton Moreland
I think they thought she was gonna turn them for having methamphetamines and they would get drug charges.
Garrett Moreland
A lot better than getting murder charges.
Peyton Moreland
Also, just like that.
Garrett Moreland
Makes no sense.
Peyton Moreland
The syringe. It's just weird.
Garrett Moreland
Yeah, the whole thing's weird.
Peyton Moreland
I guess they were high on drugs.
Garrett Moreland
So sad.
Peyton Moreland
All right, you guys, that is our case for this week, and we will see you next time with another one. I love it.
Garrett Moreland
I hate it.
Peyton Moreland
Goodbye.
D
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Peyton Moreland
Try.
Podcast Summary: Murder With My Husband - Episode 265: The Missing Instagram Model - Esmeralda Gonzalez
Introduction
In Episode 265 of Murder With My Husband, hosted by Peyton and Garrett Moreland from OH NO MEDIA, the duo delves into the mysterious disappearance and subsequent murder of Esmeralda Gonzalez, a 24-year-old Instagram influencer from Las Vegas. This episode meticulously unpacks the timeline, investigation, and ultimate resolution of Esmeralda's tragic case, highlighting the interplay between her online presence and real-world dangers.
Esmeralda Gonzalez: A Rising Influencer
Esmeralda Gonzalez was born on May 26, 1995, in Las Vegas, Nevada, to a family that immigrated from Michoacán, Mexico, in the 1990s seeking the American dream. Growing up in the historic neighborhood of West Las Vegas, Esmeralda was deeply rooted in her community and familial bonds. Unlike many young Las Vegans drawn to the glamour of casinos and nightclubs, Esmeralda focused on academics and personal growth. She participated in beauty pageants and joined the high school chess club, where she was the only female member, showcasing her resilience and determination.
After high school, Esmeralda attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), pursuing a bachelor's degree in communications. She was an active member of the National Society for Leadership and Success and aspired to attend law school. Balancing her academic ambitions, Esmeralda enjoyed her role as an Instagram influencer, amassing nearly 300,000 followers by 2018. Her online persona was a blend of candid nightlife snapshots, fashion showcases, and glimpses into her luxurious lifestyle, including flaunting a $40,000 Rolex and purchasing her first home at 23.
The Disappearance
On May 31, 2019, a week after celebrating her 24th birthday, Esmeralda went missing. Concerned by her lack of communication, her brother Juan visited her home only to find the front door unlocked—a rare occurrence for Esmeralda, who valued her privacy and security. Inside, while her purse and wallet were present, her phone was missing, and the house was in disarray. Juan suspected a potential mental health episode, as Esmeralda had a history of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, though her medications had been effective until recently.
Garrett Moreland notes, "Esmeralda might have had another mental health episode" (14:20), highlighting the initial assumption that her disappearance could be attributed to her struggles with mental health.
Investigation and Initial Leads
Juan reached out to Esmeralda's boyfriend, Luis Merlo, who informed him that the last time he saw Esmeralda was the day before her disappearance. Luis had taken Esmeralda's car keys and phone to protect her, given her unstable mental state. This raised immediate suspicions about Luis, as common procedure leads investigators to consider close relations during missing person cases. However, further scrutiny of Luis's background revealed a less-than-spotless record, though nothing overtly criminal.
Interestingly, security camera footage from Esmeralda's home showed her wandering inside the house but made no mentions of Luis being present, suggesting he might not have been involved directly at that moment.
Turning Points: Neighbor and Roommate Involvement
As police expanded their investigation, they received an anonymous tip pointing towards Christopher Prestipino and his roommate, Cassandra Garrett, both neighbors of Esmeralda. The tip alleged that the duo had murdered a woman and disposed of her body in the Nevada desert using a U-Haul truck. This accusation seemed to align with Esmeralda's disappearance, especially since security footage later connected Christopher to the efforts of disposing of a large wooden box—the suspected container of Esmeralda's body.
Peyton Moreland emphasizes the alignment of the evidence with the neighbor's involvement: "Esmeralda was last seen wandering around the neighborhood... which makes this the most sensible lead for police" (34:04).
Further investigation revealed that Christopher had rented a U-Haul shortly after Esmeralda went missing, and his purchases at Home Depot matched the materials needed to build the wooden box described by the anonymous tipster.
The Critical Breakthrough
Despite mounting circumstantial evidence, Christopher and Cassandra remained elusive, with Christopher fleeing to Belize to avoid arrest. Police efforts intensified, leading them to Cassandra, who eventually cooperated under the pressure of a deal promising leniency. On October 8th, Cassandra led detectives to the Nevada desert, where they discovered the wooden box containing Esmeralda's remains. Due to decomposition, only her Rolex watch and DNA confirmed her identity.
Garrett Moreland reflects on the discovery: "They're all partying... but then Esmeralda starts fighting back... forcing Christopher to act" (50:32), underscoring the chaotic and violent nature of Esmeralda's final moments.
Legal Proceedings and Conclusion
Following the discovery, Christopher Prestipino was arrested and charged with murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy. His roommate, Cassandra Garrett, faced similar charges, while Christopher's girlfriend, Lisa Mort, was implicated as an accessory. Ultimately, Cassandra accepted a plea deal, receiving a sentence for voluntary manslaughter, and Lisa was sentenced for accessory after the fact. Christopher initially pleaded not guilty but later switched to an Alford plea, maintaining his innocence while acknowledging that sufficient evidence existed to convict him. He was sentenced to concurrent terms totaling 15-40 years.
Peyton Moreland concludes the episode with a reflection on the dangers that lurk beyond the seemingly protective veil of social media: "While the Internet may seem like a scary place at times, sometimes it really is no match for what's lurking out in the real world" (52:16).
Notable Quotes
Peyton Moreland (14:20): "Esmeralda might have had another mental health episode."
Garrett Moreland (34:04): "I mean, this really lines up for police. This makes the most sense."
Peyton Moreland (50:32): "He injects it into her, and then he and Cassandra go downstairs, they come back up to check on her later, and they find her dead."
Peyton Moreland (52:16): "While the Internet may seem like a scary place at times, sometimes it really is no match for what's lurking out in the real world."
Conclusion
The case of Esmeralda Gonzalez serves as a poignant reminder of the vulnerabilities that come with personal fame and the often unseen perils that exist outside the digital realm. Despite a prominent online presence, Esmeralda was ensnared by real-world dangers, ultimately leading to her untimely death. The episode effectively underscores the importance of vigilance and the intricate link between one's online footprint and personal safety.