An investigation continues into the death of a Lawrence, Massachusetts, mother who was found dead after she was declared missing last week and while investigators said they anticipate murder charges for the suspect in the case, none have been filed yet.
Cristian Montero, 35, was arraigned on a witness intimidation charge after Carol Flaz-Burgos was found dead in the Kenoza Lake Conservation area in Haverhill on Tuesday, according to Essex District Attorney Paul Tucker. Tucker said Montero will likely face a murder charge once a medical examiner completes the autopsy on Carol Flaz-Burgos. As of Monday morning, the DA's office said they had not received an official update on a cause of death from the medical examiner.
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The 37-year-old Flaz-Burgos was last seen on surveillance camera entering Montero's apartment in the building where she lived with her children and mother, prosecutors said in court. She made "the sign of the cross when she entered," an assistant DA said, but was never seen exiting.
However, data from her cellphone showed it began moving away from the apartment building on Broadway at the same time Montero was seen leaving it "with a wagon, a beach cart, that appeared to be filled with clothes," prosecutors said. Her phone started moving toward Haverhill, where her body would later be found Tuesday.
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It's not immediately clear what relationship they had, if any.
Montero allegedly misled investigators about where he was in the time frame of Flaz-Burgos' disappearance, according to prosecutors. In two different interviews, he said he drove to a barbershop, parking on Trenton Street, but never went in because he was feeling sick. But city cameras showed he didn't park on Trenton Street at the time, and data from his cellphone allegedly shows him in Haverhill when he said he was parked in Lawrence.
A not guilty plea was entered on Montero's behalf, and a court-appointed attorney asked the judge for time to investigate the claims made by the prosecution.
The judge ordered he be held pending a hearing in a week, and impounded investigators' documents at the prosecution's request, to prevent anything impeding their ongoing investigation, which they anticipated bringing to a grand jury.
The community gathered at a vigil to remember Flaz-Burgos on Thursday. She was remembered as a kind person who spent time caring for others.
"She was a person who took care of her family," said Flaz-Burgos' boss, Denise Vasquez.
She loved her job as a home health aide, Vasquez said, and her patients are devastated.
"All of her clients remember her as a lovely person," said Vasquez. "And she built a good relationship with all of them."
