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CCSO Note: This is one in a series of cold case profiles. For more information on this and other unsolved cases visit our CCSO Cold Case Page on Facebook.
Man Found On Landfill Access Road In 2004
Dump truck driver Julio Cesar Marquez was on his way to the county landfill in Golden Gate when something caught his eye.
Marquez saw a man getting into the driver’s side of a beige Toyota Camry that was parked along White Lake Boulevard, which leads to the landfill, around 4:15 p.m. on April 12, 2004.
As Marquez drove his white dump truck past the car he noticed a man on the ground next to the Camry. He continued on his way to the landfill to dump his load of dirt.
“Somehow it caught my attention, and I thought to myself when I come back if the guy’s still there, I’m going to call police,” Marquez would later tell detectives with the Collier County Sheriff’s Office.
Minutes later another heavy equipment operator, Charles Walp, was driving south on White Lake Boulevard when he observed the man alone on the side of the road. He got out of his truck and nudged the man, who was bleeding from the head and chest. He radioed his dispatcher, who contacted authorities.
When Marquez came back out of the landfill the man was being aided by paramedics. The Camry was gone. Deputies were starting to arrive at the scene; he stopped to tell them what he saw.
Six years later, Marquez and Walp remain the only witnesses who were close enough to the event to give deputies some clues into the final moments of Elias Sanchez Balderas’ life.
Balderas was still alive when deputies arrived on scene around 4:25 p.m. The 20-year-old Golden Gate man was transported to Naples Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The Collier County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death a homicide.
No arrest was ever made. Leads and tips from the public have long dried up. Yet detectives still believe someone has further information that could assist law enforcement and lead to an arrest.
“We’re really looking for some help,” said Detective Steve Spell, the lead investigator in the case.
Detective Spell noted that Balderas was found on a well-traveled road during the afternoon rush hour. He also noted White Lake Boulevard’s close proximity to Interstate 75 and busy Collier Boulevard.
Through their investigation, detectives learned that Balderas’ 1992 beige four-door Toyota Camry was missing. The Camry, which matched the description of the vehicle Marquez told detectives he saw near Balderas, was located two days after the homicide on Quinn Street in Bonita Springs.
Balderas had been shot once in the face and once in the chest and had a large laceration on his head, possibly from being struck with a gun. Balderas was likely shot inside his vehicle, Detective Spell said.
The investigation also uncovered a third witness. Adan Flores, who worked with Balderas at Community Electric, said he saw two men arguing inside what looked like Balderas’ Camry parked under the I-75 overpass at Collier Boulevard around 4 p.m. on the day Balderas was killed. The overpass is less than a mile from where Balderas was found.
Detectives also learned there had been an attempted carjacking in the 4900 block of U.S. 41 East at Rattlesnake Hammock Road in East Naples around the same time as the homicide. The victim was able to escape. The victim said he last saw the suspect walking north on Collier Boulevard from U.S. 41 East.
The victim described the carjacker as a Hispanic male with short dark hair and an unshaven face. A composite sketch of the suspect was developed.
The composite sketch fit some of the descriptions that Marquez gave detectives about the man he saw running from the Camry at the homicide scene.
Detective Spell speculated that Balderas, who had left a job on Marco Island for the day and would have been traveling on Collier Boulevard about the time of the carjacking, may have pulled over and given the carjacker a ride.
Based on the information from the carjacking victim, detectives returned to Quinn Street, where Balderas’ vehicle was found. They canvassed the neighborhood, showing residents the composite sketch. As a result, a person of interest was developed in the homicide case.
“That person of interest has not been eliminated at this time,” Detective Spell said.
Spell also noted that CCSO crime scene investigators collected several latent unidentified fingerprints along with unidentified DNA at the homicide scene.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Collier County Sheriff’s Office at 239.252.9300, or to remain anonymous and be eligible for a reward call Crime Stoppers at 1.800.780.TIPS (8477).
Click here to watch a video of Detective Steve Spell of the Major Crimes Bureau discuss this case.