Related stories: Solving a cold case
Related stories: Nilsa Sanchez murder
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Oct. 14, 1989: Woman trying to rebuild life
Nilsa Sanchez
In this Journal-World file photo from Sept 5, 1989, Douglas County Sheriff’s officers and heavy equipment operators prepare to remove a 36-inch metal drainage pipe under County Road 1400 west of Stull that held the strangled body of Nilsa Sanchez, a Lawrence-area mother of two found Sept. 1, 1989.
In this file photo from Sept. 12, 1989, Angelina Guadalupe holds photos of her daughter, Nilsa Sanchez, a Lawrence-area mother of two who was found murdered.
The buzzards were the first clue for Heyden Smith that something was wrong that Sept. 1 morning 20 years ago.
Looking for what the Berryton resident thought was a dead animal near his property, the buzzards prompted Smith to search his bean and tomato fields along North 1400 Road, two miles southwest of Stull.
Smith instead made a far more gruesome discovery as he followed the buzzards to a metal drainage ditch under the road.
“I saw that foot sticking out there … when I found her,” Smith said.
The foot belonged to Nilsa Sanchez, 37, a Lawrence-area mother of two, whose strangled body had been stuffed into a 36-inch-wide culvert under North 1400 Road.
Tuesday marks the 20th anniversary of Smith’s discovery. Law enforcement is still looking for Sanchez’s killer, in what local authorities say is the county’s only remaining unsolved murder over the last four decades.
A 20-year mystery
Sanchez was born in New York City, and after serving nine years in the Army, moved to Lawrence in 1983. She lived at 1310 Pa. in Lawrence with her 7-year-old son, Brian Holmes. Her daughter, Margaret Negron, was 21 at the time and lived out of state.
Sanchez spent time working at a local Hardee’s restaurant. People said she was an avid walker, and at some point she attended classes at Kansas University.
On Aug. 24, 1989, at least 20 people saw Sanchez walking along U.S. Highway 40 west of the city, where the entrance to the Kansas Highway 10 bypass is now. Eight days later, Smith found her body, about 10 miles from where she was last seen walking. But what happened in those eight days and how she ended up in the area where she was found remains a mystery.
The investigation
Retired Douglas County Sheriff Loren Anderson, who was in charge of the Sanchez investigation, said he knew early on that it would be a difficult case to solve.
“You could sense immediately that we got a real tough situation here,” Anderson said.
Investigators were starting with very little to go on other than Sanchez’s badly decomposed body, and Anderson said it took authorities several days to piece together the very basics of the case.
“We don’t know where she came from. We didn’t know who she was,” Anderson said. “I don’t remember anything that gave us a real clue.”
Two days into the investigation, Anderson activated the Capital Area Major Case Squad, or the M-Squad, a unit of law enforcement agents in the region who assist in criminal investigations.
The M-Squad logged more than 4,000 investigative hours, followed more than 500 leads and collected more than 300 pieces of evidence, but made no arrests. After 12 days of assisting local authorities, the squad was deactivated and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department continued the investigation.
Laura Graham, general counsel for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, said the KBI has also investigated the case. The case remains “open,” but “it’s not actively being investigated,” she said.
Anderson said deputies followed leads in several states but never found any evidence or suspects that “would set you on fire.”
At the time, the M-Squad asked for the public’s help in locating a man, described as in his 30s or 40s with a round face and a mustache. The man was last seen wearing a painter-type cap featuring a brightly colored floral design and a white bill, and he was reportedly driving a 1968 Chevrolet four-door sedan, painted green with a red-primered or rust-colored top.
Sgt. Steve Lewis of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department declined to provide details about this man or many other details regarding the case.
“I cannot specifically discuss any of the evidence,” he said recently. “It’s still an active case.”
Lewis said the sheriff’s department continues to periodically work on the investigation. He also said that evidence has been maintained and that they are “taking full advantage of technological advances.”
However, Lewis would not comment specifically on whether any DNA evidence from the scene had been tested using technology that was not available in 1989.
‘My daughter needs help’
While a motive or suspect has never been publicly identified, a visit by Sanchez’s mother, Angelina Guadalupe, to Lawrence a month before the murder revealed that Sanchez was experiencing some personal problems prior to her death.
Guadalupe, 64 at the time and living in Long Island, N.Y., visited Lawrence in July 1989 and became concerned about her daughter’s well-being.
During the visit, Guadalupe learned that her grandson had been placed in the custody of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.
Sanchez was arrested on April 19, 1989, during the removal of her son and charged with misdemeanor counts of battery on a police officer and obstructing the legal process. Sanchez was placed on two years’ probation following the incident. Court records do not indicate the reason Brian was removed from the home.
In a Journal-World article following the murder, Guadalupe said that she expressed concerns for her daughter’s safety to social service professionals.
“I told the social worker, my daughter needs help,” she said. “The social worker said we are working on that. I said it is an emergency.”
During her stay with her daughter that July, Guadalupe said, Sanchez slept in late, rarely ate and disappeared for hours at a time on long walks.
Guadalupe’s visit lasted two weeks. A month later, she received a call from local authorities telling her that her daughter had been murdered.
Guadalupe returned to Lawrence to make funeral arrangements days after the murder.
Marcia Epstein, who was then and is still the director at Headquarters Inc., a local crisis counseling center, worked with Guadalupe while she was in town to find housing and cope with her daughter’s death.
The custody and adoption records from the case remain sealed, but Epstein said that Guadalupe unsuccessfully attempted to gain custody of Brian following the murder. Coupled with the recent death of her daughter, Epstein said, Guadalupe was “devastated.”
“She clearly was a loving grandmother,” Epstein said. “(Not getting custody) was a huge blow for her.”
The Journal-World/6News was able to locate Sanchez’s daughter, Negron, who is living in Maryland. She did not want to talk about the case. Guadalupe and Brian, who is now 27, could not be located.
‘Always hope’
Despite the years gone by since the murder, Lewis, the sheriff’s spokesman, said “there’s always hope” some evidence might provide a break in the case.
But with the amount of time gone by, Anderson, the retired sheriff, said he isn’t optimistic about there being a resolution to the case.
“When you get that much time, it narrows your options,” he said.
The two decades have dimmed Anderson’s memories about some of the details of the case, but the disappointment in not solving Sanchez’s murder remains fresh.
“It does nag at you,” Anderson said. “And you think about it often.”
Comments
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mrf (anonymous) says…
Is it a compliment that so many of your articles make me sick to my stomach?
somebodynew (anonymous) says…
@mrf- ?? What about this article makes you sick to your stomach??? I it just an article about a cold case that is local and I think pertinent to remind people about.
Now, do I think the reporter could have done a little better job and talked to other people who were involved at the time that are still around?? Yes, but I also understand that some of them may not have talked even if contacted.
smitty (anonymous) says…
Maybe a reminder from the press that this was one of the deaths that spurred the serial killing paranoia in the late 80's and early nineties that Anne Hagedorn of the Wall Street Journal wrote.
The response to that article was from a co-authored article in the Kansas LE magazine by Olin and credited to Cris Mulvenon that had (Olin) officially stating that the only serial (in the unsolved multiple deaths of natives) was in the cereal malt.
From: the wall street journal , August 16, 1990
some fear serial killer of indians is at large in lawrence kansas
Rash of Unexplained Deaths, All Without Witnesses,
Stymies Police and Sheriff
What About the Skinheads?
By Ann Hagedorn
lawrence, Kan. For five days after the body of
a 19 year old Indian named Christopher Bread was found in a ditch on the outskirts of town, it rained. Mr. Bread's parents and other native Americans saw the downpour as a sign, a washing away of evil.
On the morning of the memorial service last March, as the sun rolled across the prairie once more, mourners
embraced the sunshine as a harbinger of hope. Soon, they said among themselves, the mysteries surrounding this death and the deaths of several other native Americans here would surely be solved.
But that hasn't happened. In the past year and a half,
four unexplained deaths of Indian men have occurred in this eastern Kansas town. No witnesses have come forth to explain them. There appeared to be no suspects. And while police and the local sheriff say they are doing everything they can to crack the cases, fears that a serial killer is responsible haunt the Indians.
Moreover, local Indian leaders worry that the deaths and the way they've been investigated are manifestations
of racism. "We feel like an isolated community. We have felt that view outside our community is that these are just some drunken Indians, that it's all an Indian problem," says Donald Bread, the father of the late Christopher and a law instructor at Haskell Indian Junior College here...
http://www.cybold.com/cybold/hitchita...
Nilsa Sanchez's death was considered by our native community as a possible mistaken identity as a native woman in another of the long list of murders of that were unsolved.
Harry Oliver was a victim of a fatal hit and run in 1000 block of Mass, yet unsolved. That too could have been a subject of this artilce.
Other cereal victims in the words of Olin are Sandoval, Dawes, and Bread. That was not long before the LPD shot and killed Sevier in his home 18 years ago last April.
Murder does not have a statute of limitations, does it?
George_Braziller (anonymous) says…
I was working at a local social service agency at the time she was murdered. The police contacted us about wanting her case file. It sat at the reception desk for several months but no one from the police department ever picked it up or even came in to look at it.
appleaday (anonymous) says…
Cereal victims?
shaunepec (Shaun Hittle) says…
Smitty,
Nope, no statute of limitations on murder...
BigPrune (anonymous) says…
I think every murder case has been solved that happened within the city limits - I think there was an article about that fact awhile back.
bossy2005 (anonymous) says…
White and Perky???? Seriously?!?!?!?!
This horrible crime was committed and no one has gotten peace or closer to it and someone wants to make it about race?
That is the reason ignorant people will never put race aside and deal with real issues.
artichokeheart (anonymous) says…
Smitty you should write a book.
smitty (anonymous) says…
I have. It's in the archives under the various news reports until the JW disappears the information from the archives.
Bigprune, Harry Oliver was killed by a hit and run and has not been solved regardless of how the local news outlet allows local law enforcement to spin it. He was here for the spring pow wow and was walking back toward Haskell when it happened.
Logan72 (Alia Ahmed) says…
bossy2005 (Anonymous) says…
White and Perky???? Seriously?!?!?!?!
This horrible crime was committed and no one has gotten peace or closer to it and someone wants to make it about race?
That is the reason ignorant people will never put race aside and deal with real issues.
bossy, this is not the first time this issue has been raised. It may actually have as much to do with class as race but since minorities tend to have lower socio-economic resources as a whole, it is probably some of both. If people are better educated and financially secure, they may have better access to the media and law enforcement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_...