Remains found last month in Weld County have been positively linked via DNA analysis to a Longmont mother who’s been missing since 2018. Investigators said they belong to Rita Gutierrez-Garcia, who was last seen alive celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with friends at a downtown Longmont bar four years ago. Suspect Juan Figueroa Jr. is now set to plead guilty in the murder case after trial was slated to start this month. He’ll be sentenced in early June. Figueroa Jr. is already serving a nearly 100-year sentence in an unrelated attempted murder and sexual assault.
