Moriarty murder trial starts Monday
Victim’s body found at motel in Jan. 2014
The case against Mark A. Chavez is going to trial on Monday and is expected to last two weeks and involve about 30 witnesses.
A plea deal was presented earlier this month and was rejected.
Chavez is accused of the murder of Tammie Cessna, 47.
Cessna was reported missing after failing to show up for work Jan. 14, 2014. Although the Moriarty Police Department found her van that same day — parked in front of the Super 8 Motel where her boyfriend, Chavez, worked and lived — officers did not search the vehicle until four days later, when State Police obtained a warrant.
In the days following Cessna’s disappearance, the case was treated as a missing person case rather than a homicide, leading former Deputy District Attorney Tim Cornish to recommend towing and sealing her van as evidence.
That delayed the discovery of the body and struck a couple of the State Police officers as odd, according to court records.
Four days after her sister reported her missing, Moriarty police found Cessna’s body in her van in front of the motel where she lived with Chavez. Although the autopsy report found Cessna died of “homicidal violence including blunt injuries and probable strangulation,” former Deputy District Attorney Robert Cates said at the time more tests were required before they could file charges.
Chavez was arrested in Albuquerque in July 2014 in relation to a cold case involving the beating of another woman. Cates said the two cases shouldn’t have any bearing on one another.