Little girl's body found in west Denver

Alan Gathright and Julie Poppen, Rocky Mountain News

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

The four-day search for 3-year- old Niveah Gallegos ended Monday when Denver police removed a body they believe is the missing child from a ravine.

"It helps bring closure to the families, the grandparents, and the community of Denver," said Lt. Ron Saunier, spokesman for Denver police.

The search for Niveah was suspended after police went to the ravine near 11th Avenue and Perry Street at 4:45 p.m.

Saunier declined to say how police knew where to find the body, saying that he did not want to jeopardize the district attorney's case.

The site is more than 31/2 miles west of where the child lived at 12th Avenue and Logan Street.

An autopsy by the Denver coroner's office will determine the cause of death and identity of the body.

Also on Monday, court records were released in which Niveah's 20-year-old mother told police how she and her boyfriend, a registered sex offender, tried to cover up the child's death and stuffed her body in a white plastic bag.

On Friday, Miriam Gallegos at first told police her daughter was kidnapped by two men in a car in the alleyway near 10th Avenue and Cherokee Street.

At that time, Niveah was described as wearing a red long- sleeved sweat shirt with an elephant in front, red pants and pink shoes. Her mother said she had been taking the girl to the hospital.

Miriam Gallegos was subsequently arrested. On Friday evening, her 22-year-old boyfriend, Angel Ray Montoya, was also taken into police custody after a short foot chase.

According to court records, the mother told police that Montoya had called her at work Friday and urged her to come home, where she found the girl "was not breathing."

Miriam Gallegos told police she briefly tried to revive the girl, according to an affidavit in support of a warrant for Montoya's arrest. When that failed, she and Montoya decided to conceal the body rather than call an ambulance, the affidavit said.

Gallegos then called police and initially told them a redheaded white man had kidnapped the girl Friday afternoon, according to the affidavit.

An Amber Alert was issued but quickly canceled as her story fell apart.

Miriam Gallegos soon admitted she and Montoya got "scared" and stuffed the girl's body into a white plastic bag, which they then placed in royal blue duffel bag with yellow handles, according to the court records.

Police searched for the child's body, even delaying trash collection in parts of the city so large containers could be checked.

After her daughter was placed in the duffel bag, Gallegos left her Capitol Hill apartment with Montoya, lugging Niveah's body, according to the affidavit. The mother said she last saw her boyfriend heading north in an alley in the 1200 block of Logan Street.

Patrol officers responded about 3 p.m. Friday to the mother's kidnapping report.

Officers who entered the mother's Logan Street apartment to get a photo of the girl became suspicious when they found a paper towel on the living room floor blotched with what appeared to be blood, the police report said.

Montoya was carrying the empty duffel bag when police arrested him Friday night after a foot chase near East 13th Avenue and Lincoln Street.

He was jailed on suspicion of first-degree murder. Gallegos was arrested on suspicion of filing a false report and being an accessory to a crime.

Patrol officers went to construction sites in the heart of the city passing out fliers offering a $2,000 reward for help in finding the girl.

An army of 200 police officers and volunteers used bloodhounds to scour Capitol Hill and Cherry Creek over the weekend.

Montoya was found guilty of indecent exposure in 2000 but failed to register as a sex offender and was sentenced in 2003 to 60 days in jail.

In 2005, he was arrested in Denver on charges of child abuse and false imprisonment. He was found guilty of child abuse and initially was given a suspended sentence and ordered to undergo mental health counseling and 18 months of supervised probation.

But in January 2007, his probation was revoked, and he was sentenced to serve 270 days in jail.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation lists Montoya as a registered sex offender.

On Monday, a number of residents and passerbys gathered near the ravine where Niveah's body was found.

Two bike paths converge near the ravine, which is covered with grass and brush. Water can be seen and heard trickling in parts of the ravine. A sign along one of the bike paths indicated that the area was part of the Lakewood disc golf course.

"I wish I brought flowers," said a woman who refused to give her name but said she lived nearby.

"I just wanted to say a prayer for her. It's horrible. I don't understand how a parent can do this to their child," the woman said. "I just hope that they get punished for what they did. It's such a shock."