Denver DA Pursues Murder Charges in 1998 Cold Case Homicide

DENVER—Today, a preliminary hearing was held in the 1998 domestic violence cold case homicide filed against defendant Crespin Nene-Perez (currently 57-years old). Mr. Nene-Perez is charged with the 1998 homicide of then 47-year old Bonny Baker. Ms. Baker was the defendant’s girlfriend at the time of her disappearance. Ms. Baker went missing from Denver on June 30, 1998. Unbeknownst to law enforcement, her body was likely left in a shallow grave on Navajo tribal grounds within about a day of her disappearance. Ms. Baker’s remains were discovered in July 1999 by two boys riding horses in a remote area on tribal land. The boys found Ms. Baker’s skull which was then placed, along with her other remains, in the custody of the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator.

In October 2012, the Cold Case Unit of the Denver Police Department reopened a homicide case on Ms. Baker and worked with Navajo tribal officials in New Mexico, as well as with the FBI and the Denver Police Department’s Crime Lab, to confirm that it was indeed Ms. Baker’s remains that were discovered in 1999. In 2013, a Denver cold case detective completed a further round of witness interviews and forensic testing and concluded, based on that evidence, that there were sufficient grounds to arrest Mr. Nene-Perez. Mr. Nene-Perez was living in Mexico when the case was filed and an arrest warrant issued. He was extradited in 2020 to face charges in Denver.

Nene-Perez is charged with one count of murder in the first degree (F1) and one count of second degree kidnapping (F4). Case number 13CR20000 was filed in Denver District Court and is being heard in courtroom 4G.

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