Woman Killed In Northeast El Paso; Husband Arrested

Family and friends say 32-year-old Yanira Caballero was a beautiful woman. Her niece, Priscilla Ramos described her as motherly, adding that there were few days that she didn?t offer her encouraging words to stay in school and make something of herself.

Yanira?s life came to an end this weekend when she was murdered, tied up, and left for dead in a closet inside her duplex apartment along the 5600 block of Threadgill in Northeast El Paso. A neighbor, Raymundo Suarez, who was with family members who went into the home through a window to investigate why no one had seen her in days, said he and several others found her body Monday.

According to police they notified Antonio Brown, Caballero?s husband, that she had been murdered. He never returned to the home. Instead, police found him driving Caballero?s 2005 Nissan Xterra along I-10 in Las Cruces.

Edgard Gonzalez, a childhood friend who grown up alongside Yanira, said the story was bigger than the murder. He said the real travesty is the family she leaves behind: a mother, a 15-year-old daughter, and scores of friends who love her like family. Gonzalez said they weren?t blood relatives, but he loved her like a sister.

?She was always smiling with a happy face,? said Gonzalez. ?I know she’s up there looking down with that happy face at us…even now I feel her in spirit. Tell her I love her.”

Caballero grew up in El Paso?s lower valley. She attended Riverside High School before moving around the country with Brown. The two returned to El Paso roughly two years ago when they began living in their home in Northeast El Paso.

Those who lived nearby said she and her husband would fight, but that they had only heard verbal arguments. She would leave the home for a day or two, but always returned. This time no one heard from her for over three days, and she didn?t turn up at her mother?s home like she usually did.

When family members realized her dogs were left outside they panicked. Caballero is said to have loved her dogs like they were family, and it was peculiar to find them not being taken care of. That?s what caused them to enter the home and find her dead inside.

A warrant for the offense of Murder was obtained for Antonio Brown and his bond was set at $1 million. Brown was placed under arrest and booked into the New Mexico Jail facility on the murder warrant and is awaiting extradition.

Caballero’s cause of death is pending autopsy results. This is the sixth homicide of 2012 compared to 12 at this same time last year.