2014-12-15 Calzada
Destroyed Evidence Complicates 1986 Randall County Cold-Case Prosecution
Florencio Calzada
The arrest of a new suspect in the 1986 murder of Florencio Calzada raised questions about an earlier indictment and the destruction of evidence after authorities believed the case had been solved.
Calzada, a Lorenzo resident, was found shot to death in a bar ditch near Interstate 27 in December 1986. His body was discovered near Wayside, between Plainview and Amarillo.
In 1999, a Randall County grand jury indicted convicted killer David Stoker for Calzada’s murder. However, Stoker had already been executed in 1997 for the November 1986 robbery and murder of 50-year-old Hale Center store clerk David Manrrique. Because Stoker could never be tried in the Calzada case, authorities considered the investigation effectively closed.
Randall County Criminal District Attorney James Farren said evidence connected to the case was later destroyed as part of an effort to relieve overcrowding in the Special Crimes Unit’s evidence room. Officials did not anticipate that another suspect would ever be prosecuted.
The case resurfaced when a witness came forward with new information implicating Johnny Ray Klein. Investigators compared the witness’s account with surviving reports and photographs and determined that it contained specific details consistent with the crime.
Klein was arrested November 29 in connection with Calzada’s death. He was held in the Wichita County jail on a $100,000 bond pending his transfer to Randall County.
The earlier destruction of evidence left prosecutors without physical evidence as they prepared a possible case against Klein. Farren acknowledged that the loss would complicate any trial and likely become a source of controversy, although he said prosecutors still had other evidence available.
Calzada’s family learned of Klein’s arrest the following day. His sister, Rosa Maria, said relatives had previously been told that authorities believed they had identified her brother’s killer. Although grateful that a witness eventually came forward, she questioned why the information had not been reported sooner.
Farren said his office had authorized the disposal of evidence in approximately six closed cases during his 16 years as district attorney, but none of the previous cases involved a murder.
David Stoker, Source: Texas Department of Criminal Justice
