Sandoval County identifies Sandoval Star victim as Victoria De La Rosa
Sandoval County has named the woman once known as Sandoval Star as Victoria De La Rosa, but detectives are still rebuilding the final months before her death.
The identification of Sandoval Star as Victoria De La Rosa gives Sandoval County investigators their first clear name in a case that had been stalled for years, but it does not answer the central question: how the 33-year-old woman ended up dead in the Cibola National Forest.
De La Rosa’s remains were found on April 18, 2023, partially submerged in a creek under a bridge on Highway 165 near milepost 10 in Placitas. At the time, the FBI’s ViCAP alert described an unidentified female about 5-foot-2 and 95 pounds, wearing a dark blue shirt with red stars, black shorts and a sports bra. Investigators said her body was too badly deteriorated to recognize, and the cause of death remained undetermined.
By April 2025, genetic analysis had pushed the case forward by showing ancestral ties to Mexico, Central America and the Andes region of South America. Sandoval County also said investigators were looking closely at graffiti found under the bridge, though officials said it may have been unrelated. That detail underscored how little evidence existed at the scene and how much of the investigation still depended on people who knew De La Rosa before she disappeared.
On May 20, 2026, authorities said the woman was Victoria De La Rosa, born Maria Hernandez-De La Rosa, who also may have used the name Lupe Hernandez. Investigators said she came to the United States in the fall of 2019 from Juchitepec, Mexico. Her husband and two children joined her in 2020. The county said she worked at Garcia’s Kitchen on Central Avenue in Albuquerque until May 2022 and later at Mas Café & Bakery in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque. The last confirmed sighting investigators have placed her in 2022 at the Casa Bonita apartments off Carlisle Boulevard in Albuquerque.
Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office Detective Don Chewning and Sheriff Jesse James Casaus have kept pressing for witnesses, friends and coworkers to come forward, saying no detail is too small. Justin A. Garris, special agent in charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, joined county officials in saying the goal is to identify and charge the person responsible.
The investigation has relied on support from outside agencies as well. The Albuquerque FBI Field Office helped with laboratory resources and manpower, and the Mexican Consulate in Albuquerque helped arrange the return of De La Rosa’s remains to relatives in Mexico for burial. Her name is now known, but the homicide remains open, and the missing timeline between her Albuquerque life and the creek in Placitas still stands between investigators and closure. The Sandoval County tip line is 505-867-7350.
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