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Mystery at Colonial Motel

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Gallup Police Department is seeking information from the public regarding a possible homicide. On April 25, GPD was called to Gallup Indian Medical Center for a possible rape. Once they arrived, there were more questions than answers on how a 39-year-old woman died.

The cause of death for Dione Thomas of Ft. Wingate, NM is unknown at this time, according to GPD Capt. Rick White.

“We are actively investigating this as a homicide,” White said.

According to the police report, filed by Officer Valerie Wilson, Anthony Ray and Milton Garanez called an ambulance to Colonial Motel on West Coal Avenue to help Thomas who was bleeding from the forehead.

Ray and Garanez were at the hospital when Officers arrived. According to the two men, Ray, Garanez and Thomas had all gone to Fire Rock Casino around noon that day, returning to the motel around 1 pm. The two men said that they later went back to the casino, without Thomas, around 3 pm, returning at 4 pm. Ray stayed at the room while Garanez went to Wal-Mart. He did admit to officers that he had been drinking.

Garanez told officers that when he got back to the room around 5 pm, that Ray opened the door for him and that Thomas was sleeping, he then also went to sleep. When he woke up approximately 30 minutes later, Thomas was still sleeping. He said that two men tried to wake her, but she was responsive as far as pulling her fingers away when he squeezed them. There was blood on her forehead and blood in her left eye and she would not wake up.

Emergency Medical Technicians Josh Bond and Kyle Leslie told officers that the room “looked suspicious,” as if someone had “tried to put her clothes back on,” saying that some of her undergarments were not on her correctly and that it appeared as if someone had tried to clean her up.

GPD Detectives are asking for the public’s help in gaining answers in their investigation. Anyone with information on the three at Colonial Motel or Fire Rock Casino in the morning or early afternoon hours is asked to contact them at (505) 863-9365. Anonymous information can be called into Crimestoppers at (505) 722-6161, which is offering a reward up to $1000 for information on this case.