Texas authorities have doubled the reward for information that leads to an arrest in the 1995 killing of 30-year-old Celia Loya, an El Paso mother whose murder has remained unsolved for more than three decades.
The Texas Department of Public Safety announced Friday that the reward has been increased to as much as $6,000 as the Texas Rangers and El Paso Police Department renew their appeal for information. The higher reward is temporary and applies only to qualifying tips received before the state announces its next featured Texas Rangers cold case.
Loya Never Made It To Work
Loya called coworkers on the morning of February 7, 1995, to tell them she would be late to work, according to DPS.
She never arrived.
After Loya could not be reached, her husband went to their home on Lake Champlain Street in east El Paso to check on her.
He found Loya severely beaten on the bathroom floor.
Investigators determined that she died from extensive blood loss caused by blunt-force injuries to her head and body. Authorities also found signs of an apparent struggle in the living room.
No arrests have been made.
Investigators Want Information About Her Final Hours
Investigators developed leads, conducted interviews, and continued examining evidence collected from the scene in the years following Loya’s killing, DPS said.
Authorities are now asking for information about Loya’s activities and whereabouts before her death, including from anyone who may have seen her or been near her home on the morning she was killed.
Investigators are also seeking information about suspicious activity or anyone who may know circumstances surrounding her death.
DPS has not publicly identified a suspect in the case.
$6,000 Reward Comes With A Deadline
Texas Crime Stoppers ordinarily offers as much as $3,000 for information leading to an arrest in Loya’s case, according to her Texas Rangers cold-case listing.
That amount has increased to as much as $6,000 while Loya’s murder is the state’s featured Texas Rangers cold case.
DPS features one case from the Texas Rangers Unsolved Crimes Investigation Program every two months in an effort to generate additional investigative leads. The Crime Stoppers reward for the featured case is increased during that period.
The higher reward for Loya’s case will only be paid if the qualifying tip is submitted before the next cold case is featured, DPS said.
Tipsters seeking the reward must call Texas Crime Stoppers at 1-800-252-TIPS (8477) or submit information through the designated online Crime Stoppers system. Online tipsters must select “Cold Cases Featured” and “Cold Case” in the appropriate categories.
Texas Rangers Keep Decades-Old Murders Open
The official DPS cold-case page identifies the case as “REFERENCE NUMBER: 321 – Unsolved.”
The Rangers’ Unsolved Crimes Investigation Program assists Texas law enforcement agencies with unresolved homicides and violent serial crimes.
Because murder has no statute of limitations in Texas, investigators continue pursuing the cases until they are solved or no viable investigative leads remain, DPS said.
The temporary reward strategy has previously been used in another North Texas cold case.
As The Dallas Express reported in April, Texas authorities offered a $6,000 reward for information in the unresolved 1997 killing of University of Texas at Dallas student Brent Alan Gutheinz, whose body was discovered in rural Grayson County.
The Gutheinz reward was also tied to his selection as the Texas Rangers’ featured cold case.
Loya’s case now takes that statewide spotlight more than 31 years after she was killed.
