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Boy's Killer Joined in Search for His Victim
Suspect is a U.S. citizen, born in San Diego



By Sandra Dibble
San Diego Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. June 10, 2009

TIJUANA — After strangling 8-year-old David Lizárraga Gómez, stuffing his body into a suitcase and dumping his body in a nearby lot, the boy's confessed killer said he joined Tijuana neighbors in their search for the child.

José Rubén Quintero Mariscal, 19, told reporters yesterday that he had killed the boy “out of impulse,” and joined the search because “I felt guilty, I didn't know how to make things right.”

Investigators said Quintero told them the crime occurred after the boy came to his door Saturday afternoon, asking for an aluminum can. After inviting David inside, Quintero decided to sexually molest him, the investigators said. When the boy resisted, Quintero wrapped a shirt around his neck until he stopped breathing, fearing he would report him, authorities said.

The boy's body was found Monday afternoon – about 48 hours after his disappearance – on a steep weed-filled lot behind the apartment complex where he and Quintero lived.

In a letter sent to members of the media yesterday, David's mother, Cinthia Gómez, wrote of her profound pain at losing her only son, “who was a happy child, he sang beautifully, and never harmed anyone.”

Rommel Moreno Manjarrez, Baja California's attorney general, said investigators had seized material inside Quintero's apartment indicating he had sexually abused other children.

“There is technical, serious evidence that he was having sex with minors,” Moreno said.

Moreno said the suspect is a U.S. citizen, born in San Diego, but U.S. Consular officials in Tijuana said yesterday afternoon they were trying to determine Quintero's citizenship.

U.S. officials confirmed David was a U.S. citizen, though he lived with his mother in Tijuana.

The crime has shocked residents of Tijuana; the boy's disappearance launched Baja California's first Amber Alert.

“Our biggest enemy was time,” said Jesús Quiñónez Márquez, a former homicide chief who is the chief international liaison officer for the Baja California Attorney General's Office.

Forensic evidence indicated that David was dead by the time family members notified police of his disappearance late Saturday.

Mexican agencies have typically waited 72 hours before issuing alerts for missing children, to ensure that the child is truly missing. Under the Amber Alert Program, notification is immediate if the child is considered in danger.

Cinthia Gomez urged public support for the Amber Alert program.

“I want to ensure that my little son's homicide never will be forgotten,” she wrote in the letter, saying his death can heighten awareness of the importance of participating. “Don't wait for the pain to hit home in order to contribute.”

Quiñónez said there is a need for greater awareness of the program in Baja California, among the community as well as police to get the word out quickly when children are in danger.

“The whole idea is using partnerships to get information out to as many as people as possible,” said Capt. L.D. Maples of the California Highway Patrol, coordinator of the Amber Alert Program in California. The program has had more than 100 alerts since it started in 2002, resulting in safe recovery of 141 children.