LOVINGTON, N.M. —
The Lovington Police Department announced Tuesday that their detectives assisted the FBI and the Garland, Texas Police Department in investigating and making an arrest in a 37-year-old homicide cold case.
According to LPD, on Nov. 7, 1986, officers with the Garland Police Department responded to a disturbance in the 3600 block of Colbath Street in Garland.
On the scene they found a victim, identified as Barbara Villarreal, dead.
Villarreal had been stabbed several times and a large kitchen knife was found nearby.
Police initially interviewed Villareal’s husband, who was cleared of the murder.
DNA evidence from the suspect was recovered at the crime scene and entered into the CODIS DNA database.
FBI investigators and GPD detectives continued to track down leads both in Mexico and the United States.
Through surveillance and DNA technology, investigators believed the suspect, 85-year-old Liborio Canales, sometimes stayed at a residence in Lovington, New Mexico.
After being in Mexico for most of 2023, Canales crossed the border to New Mexico on Tuesday to celebrate his birthday with family.
He was arrested without incident by Lovington detectives and Garland police officers and booked into the Lea County Detention Center on a federal warrant for murder. He is being held on a $1 million bond.
Canales is expected to be extradited to Texas in the coming days.