85-year-old arrested in cold case killing after crossing border for birthday, cops say
A man was arrested and charged with murder in relation to a 1986 Texas cold case killing after crossing the border into New Mexico to celebrate his birthday with family, police said.
DNA helped identify Liborio Canales, 85, as a suspect in the decades-old killing of Barbara Villarreal in Garland, Texas, the Lovington Police Department said in a July 18 Facebook post.
On Nov. 7, 1986, police responded to a Garland home to find Villarreal dead “with numerous stab wounds,” police said. A large kitchen knife was found nearby.
Police said DNA found at the crime scene was put into the FBI’s criminal justice database, Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).
Villarreal’s husband was cleared in her death after initial interviews, according to police.
Over the years, police said the FBI and Garland detectives made headway in the case by tracking down leads in Mexico and the United States.
Detectives determined Canales sometimes stayed at a Lovington home in New Mexico by using “surveillance and DNA technology,” police said.
Canales, who has spent most of the year in Mexico, was arrested Tuesday, July 17, after crossing the border into New Mexico to spend his upcoming birthday with family, police said.
Canales was booked into jail on a murder charge and is being held on $1 million bail, police said. He is expected to be extradited to Texas.
Garland is about 50 miles northeast of Fort Worth.
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This story was originally published July 19, 2023 at 12:30 PM with the headline "85-year-old arrested in cold case killing after crossing border for birthday, cops say."
