Gilroy
– Crystal Morado was laid to rest in her hometown of Salinas on
Monday, while the investigation into her death on Hecker Pass now
involves her ties to a notorious prison gang.
One week after Morado’s death, a funeral service was held at the
Garden of Memories in Salinas.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – Crystal Morado was laid to rest in her hometown of Salinas on Monday, while the investigation into her death on Hecker Pass now involves her ties to a notorious prison gang.
One week after Morado’s death, a funeral service was held at the Garden of Memories in Salinas. Rev. Tim King of Salinas’ New Life Church of the Nazarene, which Morado attended since she was a child, presided over the ceremony.
“It’s a tragic loss and we will miss Crystal greatly,” said King, who also baptized her in December 1996.
A commercial trucker found Morado, 20, dead in her car on Hecker Pass Highway west of Gilroy the afternoon of Jan. 31. She was slumped over in her car, which was running, and there was blood on her body.
No cause of death has been released yet.
Morado married James “Tibbs” Morado, 57, a top leader of the Nuestra Familia prison gang, within the past year-and-a-half, The Monterey County Herald reported Saturday. During that time, James Morado was being held in an Alameda County jail facility, according to The Herald.
Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Sgt. Dean Baker said there still is no evidence that a legal marriage between the Morados took place, but that she was using the name Morado, apparently as James Morado’s wife.
Morado pleaded guilty last September to federal racketeering conspiracy charges that involved two murders and drug trafficking, and faces a life sentence. He already was serving a life sentence at Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City.
Crystal Morado’s death raises the possibility of a struggle for power within the Nuestra Familia gang, which operates principally in Northern California and the state’s correctional institutions, according to the Department of Justice. Other motives include a rival gang attack, a random carjacking, or an attack by a boyfriend, Baker confirmed.
“At this point (the case) is still very dynamic, and we’ve got new material that we’re reviewing even as we speak,” Baker said.
Aside from her probable gang connection through James Morado, Crystal Morado had connections of her own in Salinas.
“We have had numerous contacts with a variety of gang individuals, and these are associates and friends and that, so I think it’s safe to say that in a respect, she has some ties,” Baker said.
The Herald also reported Morado had been shot to death, which Baker said he could not confirm. Bullet casings were found at the scene but are not necessarily related to the case, he said.
