NBC Dateline: What happened to Rita Gutierrez-Garcia?

The 2018 case of a missing Longmont mother named Rita Gutierrez-Garcia, who disappeared on the morning of March 18, has received a substantial amount of media coverage over the years. Her remains were found last April, about a year after a grand jury indicted Juan Figueroa Jr. for first-degree murder and kidnapping in her case in June 2021.

Reports state that Gutierrez-Garcia was last seen near a bar in the downtown Longmont area. Figueroa Jr., who was arrested on March 27 in connection to a separate s*xual assault case, allegedly confessed to killing the missing mother to a cellmate. He confessed to punching her unconscious before strangling her. The suspect entered a plea deal in a "no-body homicide" case.

NBC's Dateline is slated to chronicle the case of Rita Gutierrez-Garcia, starting with her disappearance until the day her remains were indetified, this Friday. Keith Morrison will report on the upcoming episode titled Finding Rita, which will air on the channel at 9.00 pm ET. The synopsis of the episode states:

"When a Colorado mother vanishes without a trace, the detective investigating her disappearance discovers a connection to a previous assault."

---

Rita Gutierrez-Garcia was pursuing a paralegal degree at the time of her disappearance after St. Patrick's Day celebrations in 2018

On March 18, 2018, Rita Gutierrez-Garcia, 34, had a night out with friends, celebrating St. Patrick's Day, when she disappeared from an alley behind a bar in the downtown Longmont area, triggering a years-long missing person's investigation. She was a mother of three young sons, studying for a paralegal degree at the time.

Four years later, on April 28, 2022, her decomposed remains were found in Weld County, Colorado, and were later identified using DNA tests in May. Following the discovery, the victim's sister said during a press release that her case "is no longer a missing person investigation."

According to reports, a man named Juan Figueroa Jr. was initially identified as a possible suspect while authorities were still investigating her disappearance. On March 18 at about 1.30 am, he "briefly interacted" with her inside the bar and was spotted close by to her outside the bar by multiple witnesses after the place closed for the night.

Rita Gutierrez-Garcia's phone records showed that between 2.40 and 3.03 am, her phone was located close to the 600 block between Main Street and Coffman Street. A surveillance video showed Figueroa's truck passing through the exact same spot at 3.03 am.

Details of Gutierrez-Garcia's horrific struggle to survive revealed more about the night after it was discovered that the victim had made two desperate 911 calls that night before she disappeared. However, the calls went dead before authorities could respond. Moments after dropped off the network and was located at 3rd Avenue and Vivian Street in Longmont.

---

Long-time suspect Juan Figueroa Jr. confessed to strangling Rita Gutierrez-Garcia after his arrest in an unrelated case

Juan Figueroa Jr. fled Colorado on March 20, 2018, after authorities tried to approach him at his mother's house. He then briefly stayed in Texas before crossing the border into Mexico two days later. He was arrested on March 27 while attempting to re-enter the US in connection to an unrelated s*xual assault case, for which he was eventually found guilty.

After his arrest, Figueroa reportedly confessed to strangling "the missing woman" and disposing of her body to a cellmate. He claimed that she called him a "weirdo," which prompted him to punch her, knocking her unconscious. After which, he strangled her to death. His confession also included details pertaining to burning his clothes and dumping the victim's body "in an area not accessible to the public."

In June 2022, Juan Figueroa Jr. pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and kidnapping and was sentenced to 48 years in prison for Rita Gutierrez-Garcia's murder. At the time, he was already serving a 93-year prison sentence for an unrelated s*xual assault case.