Blood found on the clothing of a Carson City toddler, whose mother has been missing for nearly four weeks, belongs to a female relative of the child, a search warrant filed in Salt Lake District Court reveals.
In the affidavit filed this week, Carson City investigators asked Salt Lake courts for permission to search the vehicle of Juan Carlos Tellez, 36, when his blue 1992 GMC Jimmy truck was found in a parking lot there.
Police believe Tellez, also from Carson City, may have information in the disappearance of Bertha Anguiano, 33.
The married mother of three was last seen standing outside Empire Elementary School about 8 a.m. Nov. 10. Some 90 minutes later her 3-year-old son Andrew was found abandoned behind the Smith's grocery store in Dayton with blood on his clothing, a minor head wound and clutching a dollar bill. He told police his mother was dead. The affidavit reveals Andrew identified a photograph of Tellez as "Juan," and told police he witnessed "Juan," hit his mother with a "wooden object or a shovel."
Andrew also said, "Juan Carlos had then wrapped his mother in a blanket and placed her in the back of the blue truck," Detective Courtney Nelson of the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office wrote in the affidavit.
A Utah trooper located Tellez's blue GMC Jimmy truck at the Eagles Landing Apartments in Salt Lake on Nov. 21.
The following morning, when deputies approached Tellez as he left the parking lot in another vehicle, he allegedly pulled a gun from his waistband and pointed it at police.
"Detective Brent Adamson, who was driving his vehicle towards Juan Carlos Tellez, used his vehicle to strike Tellez as Tellez was pointing a weapon at Sgt. Keith Stephens," Nelson wrote.
Tellez is being held without bail in the Salt Lake County Jail on suspicion of felony aggravated assault.
He has denied any involvement in Anguiano's disappearance, Carson City Sheriff Kenny Furlong said. Police believe Tellez and Anguiano were having an extramarital affair.
The vehicle was returned to Carson City, where detectives requested another search warrant. A judge sealed that affidavit at the urging of investigators.
Carson City Sheriff's Sgt. Bob White declined to comment on the blood found on the child's clothing. He said a forensic examination of Tellez's truck has proved fruitful but declined to elaborate.
Some of the evidence found in the truck has been turned over to the Washoe County crime lab for forensic testing, he said.
In the Utah affidavit, investigators said they hoped to find fingerprints, blood stains, blood spatter, body fluids, hair, skin, fibers, tire casts, soil samples, wooden objects, shovels and ownership information.
Search and rescue volunteers have combed the desert between Carson City and Fallon hoping to find some clue as to Anguiano's disappearance. Those searches have been unsuccessful.
Anguiano's husband, Filiberto, and the couple's sons have moved to Southern California to be closer to family.
White said Filiberto is cooperative with investigators and is not a suspect in his wife's disappearance.
Contact F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.
