The brutal unsolved murder of a teenage girl inside her Los Angeles County bedroom has haunted her family for more than four decades. Who did it and why remains a mystery, but now one detective is reopening the cold case, hoping to give a still-grieving family the answers and the justice they’ve longed for. KTLA’s Lindsey Pena has the story.
In late October 2026 , Joel Emiliano Tovar – Vargas- ,24 , was arrested and charged with tampering with evidence with intent to impair a human corpse in connection with the 2019 death of 20 year old Megan Gonzales .
Meagan Gonzales vanished in November 2019. Weeks later, her burned, severely decomposed body was found wrapped in a blanket in a field in southwest Bexar County. The case went cold until 2025, when the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) cold case team utilized new digital forensic technology to mine data from Tovar-Vargas’s cellphone.
The forensic extraction uncovered what Sheriff Javier Salazar described as a “treasure trove of information”, including:
- Location Data: Phone records placed Tovar-Vargas in the areas where Gonzales’s truck and personal belongings were dumped.
- Photographic Evidence: Investigators discovered photos on his phone showing a blanket with a “distinctive pattern” inside his home prior to the crime—matching the blanket wrapped around Gonzales’s remains.
- Incriminating Search History: His phone revealed searches concerning how long fingerprints last and instructions on how to delete social media accounts. [1]
- Witness Testimony: Witnesses reported seeing Tovar-Vargas disposing of evidence, and at least one witness stated he asked for help moving a body
- Charges Filed: Tovar-Vargas is charged with tampering with evidence involving a corpse. He was also booked on an unrelated human smuggling warrant out of another county.
- Homicide Investigation: While Sheriff Salazar stated that investigators believe Tovar-Vargas is responsible for what happened to Gonzales, he has not been charged with murder at this time. Authorities are currently charging what they can prove—that he disposed of her body.
- Other Allegations: BCSO noted that Tovar-Vargas has a lengthy criminal record and is a suspect in three separate, unrelated domestic violence cases involving other women.
