Police say skulls in Jal may belong to collector
Angela McManes was last seen on May 13, 2019, and was reported missing in June of that year.
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After numerous human skulls were found at a home in Jal, making national headlines, the Lea County Sheriff’s Office is walking back claims that the bones are tied to a local woman’s disappearance.
Lea County deputies are now investigating whether the 10 to 20 skulls found were legally purchased online by the previous owner of the abandoned house where they were discovered.
Authorities originally announced in a news release Tuesday that the skulls may be connected to the 2019 disappearance of Angela McManes, who happened to live nearby.
“So I guess we have a serial killer in Lea County,” one man wrote in a Facebook post following the announcement.
On Thursday, the sheriff’s office announced that “there does not appear to be a link” between the bones and McManes’ case. The initial release said there was “evidence of 10-20 human skulls,” while the latest release said investigators are unsure whether the remains found are “full skulls or partial fragments.”
“This release is provide to update and clarify key aspects to the case,” the sheriff’s office said in the release posted to Facebook.
The sheriff’s office said in the update that Cecil Villanueva, 28, who was originally named in connection with the case, is charged with criminal trespassing “unrelated to this case.”
Lea County Undersheriff Michael Walker told KRQE-TV on Thursday that the previous owner of the home was rumored to collect human bones purchased legally online and that Villanueva was reportedly squatting in the abandoned, burnt home where the skulls were found.
While the original release indicated that Villanueva was seen with two bags of human bones, and reportedly threw several out of a car window during “an unsettling encounter” with a local, the updated release dismisses his connection to the McManes case.
The only connection between McManes’ case and the skulls is that she lived nearby to the house where they were found prior to her disappearance, according to the release. The bones are yet to be identified and were transported to the state Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque.
“It’s about time the sheriff’s office fixes their first statement that made everyone get crazy!” one resident of the small southeastern New Mexico town said in a Facebook comment about the latest release.
The Lea County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to multiple calls and messages from the Journal throughout the week.
Anyone with information on Angela McManes’ disappearance can contact Lea County Crime Stoppers at (575) 398-8005 or the Lea County Sheriff’s Office at (575) 396-3611.
