From Monte Vista Police Chief George Dingfelder;
On July 24, 2023, Detectives with the Monte Vista Police Department (MVPD) and the Agents with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Marissa Medina-Montoya, 23, Monte Vista for her involvement in the death of Letisha Serna-Lopez, 37, Monte Vista.
On February 1, 2023, the officers with the MVPD along with Monte Vista EMS were dispatched to a residence in the 500 block of Dennis Street for a possible drug overdose. When officers arrived on scene they found Serna-Lopez unresponsive and started life-saving measures to include administering NARCAN, a medicine used for the treatment of known or suspected opioid overdose. Serna-Lopez was transported to the San Luis Valley Health hospital in Alamosa and later airlifted to Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs where she died on February 4, 2023, due to complications from opioid overdose.
Over the course of the next several months, MVPD Detectives and CBI Agents conducted numerous interviews and search warrants into the death of Serna-Lopez, resulting in the arrest of Medina-Montoya for allegedly providing the Fentanyl that resulted in the death of Serna-Lopez.
This is the first time in the 12th Judicial District (San Luis Valley) that a suspected drug dealer has been charged under HB 22-1326, which provides for prosecution of anyone who provides synthetic opiates (Fentanyl) to another and it is the proximate cause of death of the person.
Drug overdose deaths are very difficult and complicated to investigate as the majority of those involved are uncooperative and unwilling to provide investigators with information to lead to those providing the poison that is killing our citizens. This investigation was the result of thorough and detailed investigation by MVPD detectives with the assistance of CBI agents.
In addition to the charge for distributing Fentanyl, Medina-Montoya was charged with Special Offender as the drug distribution took place within 1000 feet of a school.
Medina-Montoya was booked into the Rio Grande County Jail on a $100,000 bond.
All persons are considered innocent until proven guilty in the court of law.
