Aztec Woman Charged With Second-Degree Murder After Missing Resident Found in Closet

Aztec police arrested Bonita Lynn Schultze, 66, on March 3 and charged her with second-degree murder in the death of 64-year-old Lana Justice, according to an arrest-warrant affidavit and an Aztec Police Department social-media post. Police say Justice’s body was discovered inside her mobile home on Aztec Boulevard and the case has been forwarded to the San Juan County District Attorney’s Office.

The arrest-warrant affidavit reported by The Journal describes Justice’s body as “stuffed into a ‘black and red container’ in the closet of her mobile home in the 1,000 block of Aztec Boulevard.” A Jan. 22 autopsy, also reported by The Journal, concluded Justice was killed by “blunt force trauma, along with asphyxiation of the neck and chest.”

Accounts differ on the exact timeline in mid-January. The Journal reports Justice last contacted family on Jan. 14 and was found six days later, while the Durango Herald reports Justice’s last known location as Narrow Gauge Mobile Home Park at 1234 Aztec Blvd. NE on Jan. 16 and says she was reported missing that same day. The arrest-warrant affidavit as reported by The Journal says Justice’s son, Nic Gonzales, filed a missing-person report on Jan. 18, prompting police follow-up.

Officers who questioned Schultze during that Jan. 18 follow-up are reported to have recorded her saying Justice had left for Texas “several days earlier,” even though Justice’s walker and cane remained inside the residence. The affidavit reported by The Journal says Schultze “showed no real emotion, other than when referring to her situation and how she had been treated in life,” and that Schultze told officers Justice had threatened to kill her. Schultze reportedly said she was “not very worried” because Justice was “just a little thing” and that Justice was “very mean with a knife.” Schultze denied harming Justice, the affidavit says.

When executing a search warrant at the mobile home, investigators reportedly found a notice to vacate from Justice ordering Schultze to leave by Jan. 31; The Journal reported Schultze remained living in the home when police followed up on the missing-person report. The Aztec Police Department posted that “this case has been forwarded to the District Attorney’s Office for prosecution. However, at this time the investigation is still ongoing,” according to the Durango Herald.

Family members reacted on social media. Rebecca Davidson, Justice’s sister, posted on Facebook that Justice “was found in her home. She was murdered,” the Durango Herald reports. Court records reviewed by the Durango Herald also show that Justice filed a domestic violence petition on July 9 against her son Dustin Thompson, 36, alleging threats including that he told her he was “going to cut my head off” and had a “homemade gun and threatens to shoot me and himself,” and that a protection order was granted July 15 by Domestic Violence Commissioner Karen Townsend.

Media access to police records has been limited; the Tri-City Record’s Feb. 9 Inspection of Public Records Act request for the missing-person and incident reports was denied by the Aztec Police Department, the Durango Herald reports. The Journal reported the San Juan County District Attorney’s Office will not file a pretrial detention hold on Schultze and that this is her first criminal offense. The case remains under investigation as prosecutors review the file.