A suspected serial killer has been charged with the murder of Lois Duncan’s daughter for nearly 33 years after she was shot in the head while returning from a friend’s house.
Paul Apodaca, 54, was formally charged Monday with the murder of 18-year-old Caitlin Arquette in July 1989 after a reception in Albuquerque, New Mexico police that he was the man who killed her and two other young women in the late 1980s.
He had previously been convicted in 1995 of raping his 14-year-old stepdaughter and was arrested for a parole offense in July, when he allegedly confessed to the violent murders while talking about his hatred of women and handing them over to detectives. information that only the killer could know.
Apodaca is now charged with first-degree murder in Arquette’s death, as he also faces charges of the University’s death in New Mexico student Althea Oakley, 21, and Stella Gonzalez, who was just 13 when she was shot and killed.
He said he had pleaded not guilty to at least one of the charges against him COATand now remains in custody at Leah County Correctional Facility while awaiting trial for the deaths of Oakley and Gonzalez.
Apodaka is due to return to court on Friday for a detention hearing, as his lawyer insists he is innocent of the murders and has confessed because he was intoxicated and mentally ill.
Paul Apodaca, 54, was formally charged Monday with the July 1989 murder of 18-year-old Caitlin Arquette.
Arquette’s mother, the famous author of “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” Lois Duncan, spent years searching for justice in her daughter’s death.
Arquette’s death became national news after the famous author of “I Know What You Did Last Summer” Lois Duncan wrote a science book on the mysterious murder in 1992, entitled “Who Killed My Daughter?” And hired a private detective to investigate the circumstances. the death of her daughter.
Over the years, the family has received several theories about Arquette’s death, with some suspecting a so-called Vietnamese mafia involved in car insurance fraud, according to Albuquerque Magazine.
Eventually, two men were charged with her death, but the then district attorney dismissed the case without prejudice, as the evidence was insufficient to prove that they were involved beyond a reasonable doubt.
But for years, the Journal reported, Arquette’s family believed Apodaca may have been involved in her death on July 16, 1989.
Duncan wrote a documentary about the mysterious murder in 1992, entitled “Who Killed My Daughter?”
Arquette was returning home that evening after having dinner with a friend in the city’s Old Town when she was shot twice in the head, causing her to move between sails and crash into a light pole.
Witnesses to the scene at the time described seeing a Volkswagen Beetle near the scene. It was driven by Apodaca, who was 21 at the time.
During the ensuing investigation, Pat Carcito, who was hired by the family to investigate Arquette’s death, said he suspected Apodaca was involved.
said Carsito COB 4 last year that he actually visited Apodaca while serving 20 years in prison for raping his underage half-sister.
“He did not hesitate to be at the scene,” she said. “He was nice again.” [and] cooperative. ‘
However, Carcito noted that there were “twice when he was not”.
The first was when she asked him who was with him at the time, to which he reportedly replied: “What do you mean someone was with me, who said someone was with me? No one was with me.
The only other time he wasn’t “nice and cooperative,” Carcito said, was when he asked, “How did you find me?”
“Those were interesting words to me, as if you didn’t have to find me.”
Now, Caitlin’s sister, Kerry, told KRQE that their mother was “here” and “looking down” after years of seeking justice in Caitlin’s death. Duncan died in 2016.
Apodaca also faces charges of the deaths of New Mexico University student Althea Oakley, 21, left, and Stella Gonzalez, 13, right
Apodaca also faces charges of the deaths of New Mexico University student Althea Oakley, 21, and Stella Gonzalez, 13.
Authorities say Oakley was his first victim when she returned home from a fraternity party on June 22, 1988, after arguing with her boyfriend.
Apodaca reportedly told investigators that he worked as a security guard at the Technical Vocational Institute – now the Central Public College of New Mexico – the night he saw Oakley and began following her.
He said she smiled at him and then he attacked her afterwards, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
Just a few months later, on September 9, 1988, Gonzalez was shot and killed while walking with a friend near Tingley Beach. According to police, “the two girls collided with someone in a car” who “produces shots” that hit Gonzalez. She later died at a nearby hospital in southern Albuquerque, Law and crime reports.
Apodaca also reportedly admitted to authorities in July that it was driven by the girls when it shot her, according to KRQE.
He was eventually arrested by police at the University of New Mexico in July 2021 for violating parole as a registered sex offender, and shortly after being arrested, a police report admitted he killed three young women and raped three others during the same time period.
One of them, since 1993, was stuck in the accumulation of the rape kit and recently received a match through the CODIS DNA database. The case is now being reopened.
Detectives said Apocada had information about the death that only the killer could know.
“In our opinion, Paul Apdodaka is a serial killer and he chose his victims seemingly at random, but they all shared one thing: they were women,” Albuquerque Deputy Commander Kyle Hartsock said when he announced the first of the charges against Apodaka in August. .
“They were vulnerable women at the time who looked alone, and that was his only reason, opportunity, and his own perceived hatred of women at the time.”
However, his lawyer, Nicholas Hart, claims that Apodaka was intoxicated when he confessed.
He issued a statement Tuesday saying: “The district attorney’s office is only interested in trying this case in the press because they know how incomplete and empty these investigations are.
“So it is no surprise that another false accusation has been made, which will certainly be followed by dubious and false public statements.
“We look forward to showing the court and the jury that Mr Apodaka is not guilty of these charges.
Apodaca has not yet been formally charged with Arquette’s murder, but in August a grand jury charged him with Oakley’s murder, and in August he was charged with Oakley’s murder.