Detectives still work to solve death of woman found last year in Spokane River

A trip to San Diego rewarded Spokane County detectives with new leads in the death of a woman found last January in the Spokane River. But much about Maria Vega – including her real name – remains a mystery.

Spokane County Sheriff’s Office detectives have been investigating Vega’s death as a homicide since the 58-year-old woman’s body was found in the Spokane River a little over a year ago near East Empire Avenue. The medical examiner said she drowned.

Police first identified her as Rosalba Robayo Blanco based on a fingerprint match to an arrest from the 1980s. But California state records, as well as friends and family, suggested she went by Maria Vega. Detective Justin Elliot said he believes that’s also an assumed identity and has been working with Mexican authorities to find Vega’s birth name.

“She was leading probably a couple different lives that we’re still trying to piece together,” Elliot said. Now, detectives have filed a warrant seeking the cellphone records of a man they believe may have been the last to see Vega alive.

California’s online records show ownership of Vega’s car was transferred on Dec. 11, 2013 – the last day anyone heard from her – to a homeless man who worked in Encinitas. Elliot said California allows anyone to enter a vehicle transfer online.

The physical title lists another man as the new owner of the car. He told police he bought the car in April 2014 from the Encinitas man.

Vega had registered the car under a third assumed name, but Elliot said the handwriting signing over the title appeared to match other known samples of her writing. He suspects she may have signed over the physical title without filling out the back, leaving it blank for the Encinitas man to later record his sale of the car.

When interviewed by police, the man denied ever having met Vega and said a Hispanic woman gave him the vehicle for free in a Wal-Mart parking lot. He could not explain how his name and address ended up on the vehicle’s title.

“It’s definitely a lead that begs more questions,” Elliot said. Police hope the homeless man’s cellphone records may indicate whether he had any other contact with Vega.

Vega was from Tijuana, Mexico, and worked in San Diego as a nanny for several years, according to court documents.

She last crossed into the United States at San Ysidro on Sept. 24, 2013. She told Customs and Border Patrol officials she was heading to the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas for work, but never arrived.

Elliot said it’s common for people to report that they’re going to work in casinos in Las Vegas at border checkpoints, and said there’s no evidence tying her to the city or the Bellagio.

Vega’s secrecy and the multiple identities she used might mean she was involved in drug trafficking or another criminal enterprise, though the detective said he’s found no evidence to suggest that. It could simply indicate she was trying to make it easier to work in the U.S., he said.

Just before her disappearance, Vega told several people close to her to be wary if anyone came looking for her. Elliot said she told people, “Don’t unlock the door, don’t let them in. I’m afraid they’re trying to hurt me.”

Vega was well-liked by her employers and the friends and family police have been able to track down. But Elliot still hasn’t found any evidence suggesting how she ended up dead in the Spokane River.

“It’s abnormal, given the circumstances, her ending up here. She couldn’t swim. Numerous people said she’s not a swimmer, and this isn’t exactly a place you go swimming in January,” Elliot said.

He hasn’t been able to recover any personal property of Vega’s either – clothing, identification, or anything else most people would take with them when traveling.

Elliot hopes to uncover Vega’s ties to Washington or Spokane.

“That would be a huge piece of information for us to have,” he said.