OTHELLO, Wash. (AP) - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will seek to deport a man suspected of killing two women and leaving their dismembered bodies in an abandoned car in the central Washington town of Othello - if and when he’s ever released from state custody.
ICE has lodged an immigration detainer with Adams County Jail for Mauricio Nava-Garibay, who is a citizen of Mexico, The Spokesman-Review reported.
The detainer is a request for the jail to hold Nava-Garibay 48 hours after he would otherwise be released, whether he posts bail, prosecutors drop charges against him, or after a finding of guilt or innocence. It wasn’t immediately known if Nava-Garibay has an attorney to comment on his case.
“We’re not looking to take him from local custody and deport him to another country,” said Tanya Roman, spokesman for the northwest region of ICE. “We’re saying, if local custody is going to release him or after he finishes a prison sentence we want the opportunity to pick him up, whether that’s tomorrow or 50 years from now.”
Nava-Garibay confessed to killing 57-year-old Dora Martinez and her 30-year-old relative Guadalupe Martinez last Thursday, according to probable cause documents.
Adams County sheriff’s deputies arrested Nava-Garibay on Thursday, hours after finding the bodies. The man waived his rights and agreed to an interview, according to court documents.
He told authorities he got in a fight with his girlfriend, Dora Martinez, on Wednesday evening and that she hit him, according to court documents. He told her he had a gift for her in the garage and then he stabbed her and strangled her, documents said.
Guadalupe Martinez entered the garage and Nava-Garibay told officers he also killed her, documents said. He said he dismembered their bodies, put them in a vehicle, drove a few miles and abandoned the vehicle.
Nava-Garibay is being held on two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of removal or concealment of a body.
Othello is about 180 miles (290 kilometers) southeast of Seattle.
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