Due to “new interest” in the 2015 murder of Robert Heiser, Gilroy Police are again asking the public for assistance finding a woman who allegedly helped rob and kill the victim but has evaded capture for more than a decade.
The female suspect, Isabella Chaidez, was age 17 at the time of the February 2015 homicide on Bay Tree Drive.
A Sept. 10 press release from Gilroy Police Department says Chaidez “became a suspect in a robbery gone wrong that left a man dead. And then, she disappeared.”
Three other suspects in Heiser’s death were arrested and charged shortly after the murder. They were later convicted of various charges in relation to the crime, and two are serving life sentences at California State Prison Solano.
The suspects had conspired to lure Heiser to meet up with Chaidez, through a social media post in which she went by “Crissy,” who encouraged him to take her back to his Gilroy home, police said. Once at his home on Feb. 16, 2015, the other three suspects joined Chaidez in the crime and tied up Heiser and robbed him.
The same suspects had committed a similar robbery in at least one other Bay Area city, according to authorities.
During the Gilroy robbery, Heiser, 56, fought back, according to Gilroy Police. Two male suspects—Rodrigo Bejarano and Gilbert Cisneros—beat the victim. Heiser ultimately died from the injuries.
The suspects stole unspecified electronics as well as Heiser’s wallet and keys from the home, police said in 2015.
The fourth suspect was Gabriela Ortiz, who was 19 at the time. Within days, all four suspects were identified through surveillance videos from businesses in San Jose, where they had been using Heiser’s credit cards, police said.
Within two weeks after the homicide, Bejarano, Cisneros and Ortiz had been arrested and charged in relation to the robbery and death of Heiser.
Bejarano and Ortiz are currently serving life sentences, without the possibility of parole, according to the California Department of Corrections. Santa Clara County Superior Court did not immediately respond to questions about the outcome of the case of Ortiz.
Authorities still have not located Chaidez.
Fremont Police described a similar case in their city only days earlier, in which the victim survived, according to Gilroy Dispatch archives. On Feb. 7, 2015, the male victim called Chaidez after seeing her listed on a prostitution website as “Crissy,” invited her to his house where an unknown number of men beat him unconscious before robbing him, according to a representative with the Fremont Police Department.
Gilroy Police said in the Sept. 10 statement, “Over the last 10 years, we have hunted leads and conducted follow-ups on this case to no avail until recently. New interest in the case has resulted in new follow-up being conducted in the search for Isabella Chaidez.”
Gilroy Police spokesperson Katie Fisher said they are not releasing details about any new information that has developed in the case. Fisher said detectives “are conducting follow-up investigation and re-examining all aspects of the original case.”
Anyone with information about Chaidez’s whereabouts can contact Gilroy Detective Corporal Thomas Larkin at Th***********@**********oy.org.
