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Criminal Records - Most Wanted |
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Profile |
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Name: Omar
"Mines"
Emanuel Maldonado
(Omar Emanuel Maldonado-Cuevas, Emanuel Omar Maldonado, Omar Cuevas)
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Sex: Male |
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Race: Hispanic |
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Age Now: 25 |
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Height: 5'2" |
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Weight: 120 lbs. |
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Hair (Color, Description, Facial Hair): Black
Maldonado had a shaved head at the time of the crime but witnesses say he has grown it out recently. |
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Eyes (Color and Correction): Brown |
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Other Physical Characteristics: Maldonado is very short and has a complex about it.
He will get agitated very easily when his height is at issue. |
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Wanted for :
Murder, San Diego, CA;
Feb 17, 2000
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Location(s) |
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Last Seen : Tijuana, Mexico
Maldonado was recently seen in the bars of Tijuana, Mexico just across the border. |
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Possible Location : San Diego, CA
Tijuana, Mexico
Maldonado has family in Tijuana and is believed to have fled there after the alleged murder.
Authorities have credible information that Maldonado has frequently come back and forth across the border to visit friends and family in National City and the Logan Ave. area of San Diego. |
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Last Known : National City, CA
Maldonado's aunt's house is located in National City. |
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Traits |
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Is a member of the UFK "tagging crew" that vandalizes public walls and buildings with graffiti. |
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Case Story |
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Little Guy With A Big Gun |
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For the members of the "UFK" tagging crew it was just another night hanging out and partying at a Logan Avenue apartment in San Diego. The apartment was sparsely furnished with worn-out sofas, a weight bench, and some black-light posters on the wall. There was an empty keg on top of the fridge and empty beer cases stacked up alongside it. The tagging crewmembers had left their mark all over the apartment in the same way they graffiti walls and buildings around their neighborhood by scribbling on the chairs, tables and mirrors in the apartment with "UFK" and the taggers' monikers. This, according to detectives, is the setting for the scene of a horrifying crime.
Most of the teenagers ended up congregating in one room, and it was there that detectives say Omar Maldonado appeared with a sawed-off shotgun. Maldonado is very short and, according to witnesses, relied on guns and his "crew" to inflate his bravado and image. Investigators say that Maldonado pointed the gun at the ceiling and even at several people around the room. Witnesses say they all told him to "cut it out."
But Maldonado turned his focus on Leah Tadeo, a 17-year-old who'd been brought to the party. As everyone grew quiet, detectives say, Maldonado pointed the gun at her. Leah asked him to stop, but as she turned around to walk away to face her friends Maldonado took things further -- pointing the shotgun barrel to the back of her head. This is when detectives allege Maldonado pulled the trigger. |
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At The Crime Lab |
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When intern Tami Ballard arrived at the San Diego Police Crime Lab on the morning of Friday, February 17, 2000, she was greeted by tired-eyed investigators who were called out to the crime scene in the middle of the night. There was chatter around the office about the brutality that ended the innocent seventeen year old girl's life. Investigators were working now to find and interview the partygoers in order to help them identify the victim.
Tami said that at the time as an intern, she was told to go and look at the crime scene photos as part of her education and training. As she was walking down the hallway to look at the photos, her supervisor pulled her away with another assignment. Tami says she left work that evening without ever getting a chance to see the crime scene photos.
But it was late in the afternoon that detectives say they did identify the victim as Leah Tadeo. Investigators say the medical examiner's office then left a note at the home of Leah's mother Nicole Tadeo, asking her to call them immediately. Nicole saw the card stuck in her door when she got home from work. |
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You Never Know Who Will Be A Victim |
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It was just a few minutes after coming home from work that intern Tami Ballard says she received the frantic call from her mom.
Tami says she jumped in the car and raced toward her mom's house. In a strange and unfortunate twist of fate, Tami suddenly realized the unidentified murder victim from earlier that day was, in fact, her own half-sister Leah Tadeo. She had been only moments away from inadvertently viewing her own sister's crime scene photos.
Today, Tami still works at the same crime lab as a DNA specialist. Detectives say that Tami has been a valuable asset to the case because in her spare time she works diligently with her mom to help find her sister's alleged killer, Omar Maldonado. Every year, Tami and Nicole bring wanted posters to the Mexican border, talk with customs officials, and also post flyers around the San Diego neighborhoods. Detectives say that Tami and her mom even have received word-of-mouth information about sightings of Maldonado. They pass along this information to the police in hopes of one day finally catching Omar Maldonado. |
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