Kicked-in door and a body in a trunk: Arizona woman found dead in California; boyfriend arrested
There had not been a homicide in Holbrook, Ariz., since 2020, so Police Chief Nathan Christensen was not expecting the bad news he received Tuesday.
A Holbrook woman, Christi Lynn Romero, 54, who had gone missing the day before, was discovered dead in the back of her 1995 red Plymouth Neon more than 500 miles away in Huntington Beach. The police there arrested her boyfriend, Richard Paul Rodriguez, 34, on suspicion of her murder.
“Honestly, I was shocked that it ended in this manner,” said Christensen, who patrols in the small city in Navajo County. “Anytime we dealt with [Rodriguez] he was very polite, cordial. He was very respectful and compliant with us.”
But Christensen had dealt with Rodriguez a lot in the last month. The police in Holbrook had responded to the home the couple shared on at least three occasions in that span, he said, because of fights between Rodriguez and Romero.
Rodriguez had also gotten into a fight with another man at a Holbrook Dollar Store, and the two had drawn knives on each other, though no one was injured, Christensen said.
At the home, Rodriguez and Romero got into an argument about finances on Oct. 17 and Rodriguez called the cops, the police chief said. Romero wanted to kick Rodriguez out of the house, but he did not have anywhere to go. The couple agreed to Rodriguez staying if he kept to a separate room and left Romero alone.
The couple again called 911 on Halloween when there was a fight over rent, Christensen said.
The last argument was on Nov. 1, when Romero reported that she was threatened by Rodriguez, who said he would cause “harm to her and her vehicle,” Christensen said.
Rodriguez denied the allegations and said he was the one being threatened by Romero, Christensen said.
The next day, Romero obtained an order of protection against Rodriguez that would force him to leave the home and stay away from her, Christensen said.
Rodriguez checked into a shelter for unhoused people.
But on Monday, Romero’s son reached out to police saying he could not find his mother at her home. Police then found the door to the house had been kicked in and that Romero’s car was gone.
“It is believed that Richard Rodriguez may have forced his way into Christi’s residence and forced her to leave,” detectives with the Holbrook Police Department wrote in a news release Monday.
Christensen said cellphone data showed the couple on the 10 Freeway on their way to California, where Rodriguez had family. Holbrook police reached out to the LAPD and California Highway Patrol about Rodriguez.
Huntington Beach police responded to a “family disturbance” at a home on Friml Lane around 5:15 p.m. Romero’s car was parked outside, and they discovered her body in the trunk. Rodriguez was at the home and was arrested. He remains in custody.
Although Huntington Beach police did not immediately release Romero’s name, Christensen confirmed that she was the victim.
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