Adre Baroz facing fifth murder charge

Korina Arroyo

Latest charge is in connection to death of Arroyo

ALAMOSA— The 12th Judicial District Attorney’s Office announced Monday, April 26, that Adre “Psycho” Baroz is now facing murder charges in connection with the death of Korina Arroyo of Monte Vista.

Charges in Arroyo’s death are framed as part of “the investigation involving human remains located in the San Luis Valley and missing persons cases in late 2020.”

In the case of Arroyo, Baroz, 26, is charged with murder in the first degree, tampering with deceased human remains and assault in the first degree.

Arroyo is the fifth murder charge for Baroz. All five were reported missing over a span of roughly two months in 2020 with Arroyo on Aug. 28, followed by Selena Esquibel in early September. Xavier Zeven Garcia was reported missing on Oct. 16. Shayla Hammel was last seen in late October and was allegedly in the presence of Myron Robert Martinez the night he was allegedly murdered. Martinez was reported missing on Nov. 6, 2020.

On Nov. 17, 2020, law enforcement officials with five different agencies, including the Conejos County Sheriff’s Office, the Alamosa Police Department, the Monte Vista Police Department and Colorado Bureau of Investigation uncovered the remains of three people on two different properties in Los Sauces. One of those properties was being rented by Francisco Ramirez.

Baroz, who was initially a suspect in the case and already had an arrest warrant for the murder of Esquibel, was apprehended in New Mexico and returned to Alamosa for failure to appear in court. He was then charged with murder of Esquibel.

When the human remains of two of the three people were identified as Martinez and Hammel, Baroz was charged with their murders, followed in early March by murder charges related to Garcia. The third victim found at Los Sauces has yet to be identified.

Baroz continues to be held in the Alamosa County jail without bond.

This investigation is still ongoing. Arroyo, who also went by the name Korina Marquez-Arroyo and Korina Arroyo-Marquez, was from Monte Vista and was 31 years old at the time of her death. According to posts on her Facebook page, she had a son whom she called “Choco” and described as her “inspiration for living a wonderful life,” adding “I thank God every day for another day and coming home to my house filled with my crazy sisters is amazing, I couldn’t ask for a better family to share my life story with.”

In a post made in April of 2020, Arroyo announced that she was moving from the San Luis Valley. “I guess it’s time, gonna pack my stuff and go! I don’t know how I feel right now if to be happy or be sad, nervous, excited. I have so much on my mind but one thing is for sure. Today is the start of my new life!!!”

When a friend asked her where she was moving, she said she was moving to Denver.

“It’s time I move on. This valley will end up killing me,” she posted. According to the Monte Vista Police Department, Arroyo was last seen in Monte Vista on Aug. 25, 2020. Her family reported her missing three days later.

Details of the case are not yet known at this time, but Arroyo’s name previously appeared in one of the court documents relating to Ramirez who is currently facing charges related to helping Baroz dispose of the bodies of victims Baroz is accused of killing.

According to the court document, Ramirez allegedly told a friend that Baroz “shot those two girls on Facebook,” referring to Esquibel, who was reported missing shortly after Arroyo. Ramirez allegedly said that Arroyo was killed “because she was a snitch and was on people’s paperwork,” which the investigator defined as someone identified through court discovery as assisting law enforcement with a criminal case.

In that same court document, the investigator states that it is believed by the Monte Vista Police Department that “Korina was murdered due to her statements in a drug case in which she was due to testify as a state’s witness.” The investigator went on to state that Arroyo was reported missing within a few weeks of when the trial was scheduled to begin.

Since court proceedings have begun, prosecutors associated with the case — including both the former DA, Robert Willett, and the current special prosecutor, Fred Johnson with the Boulder County DA’s office — have requested of the court that certain documents remain sealed.