This case only appeared on the New Detectives-Grave Secrets and Buried in the Backyard (season 3 episode 12). The real facts prior to and after the murder is far more disturbing than what we heard on either documentary.
In January 1998, Eric and Diana Carbajal made plans to upgrade the heating ducts in the crawl space under the house. The crawl space was approximately two feet high and accessible only through a trap door in the kitchen pantry. Before going through with the plan, Eric needed to first make some inspections. But as soon as he entered he saw an indentation in the dirt. He noticed 2 tennis shoe tips were protruding from the indentation (with the toes pointing upwards). Eric told his wife about it, and the two concluded that it was some sort of practical joke. Shortly thereafter on the 27th of January, Diana's sister comes over for a visit and while Diana was going through their mail, she discovered a letter from the Salinas Police Department following up on a missing person report on a Chris Denoyer (16). On a dare, Diana's sister crawled under the house and poked at the tennis shoe but it wouldn't budge. She brushed off some dirt and as soon as she lifted the shoe she smelled a foul odor and retreated after discovering that the shoe was attached to a skeleton. The Carbajals called the police and officers would soon confirm that the bones were human and considered the house a crime scene. A team of investigators cut open the kitchen floor and found a human body, now skeletal, that had been hidden below. The grave was approximately five feet long by one and a half feet wide and one foot deep. It was located approximately 12 feet from the trap door to the pantry. With the help the of Allison Galloway, a professor of Anthropology at the University of Santa Cruz, she determined that the body was completely intact and undisturbed by animals. Her initial examination confirmed that the victim was a European adolescent male and that it had been laying there for a number of years. She also collected a plastic bag, two combs, earrings, cigarette lighter and a set of keys were recovered from the remnants of the victim's tattered clothing. She also found traces of lead bullets and a badly corroded copper bullet (later identified by firearms experts as being fired from a 357 Revolver). Her examination of the remains told her that the victim was five foot ten inches tall and weighed between 180 and 200 pounds. The skeleton suffered severe trauma. The skull was shattered and teeth were knocked out. The bullet recovered from the remains confirmed that the victim died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds. There was a hole in the back of the skull with an exit wound through the eye area, and a second hole in the temple area, both consistent with gunshot wounds. Fractures to two ribs were consistent with a gunshot wound from behind. Injuries to the shoulder blade and vertebrae likewise were consistent with gunshot wounds. Detectives reviewed Chris's casefile and discovered that he had been reported missing on January 13, 1984 by his mother Dale Villarta but was later dismissed as a runaway. Through dental records it was confirmed that the victim was 16-year-old Chris Denoyer (since the victim wore the same old fashioned orthodontic retainer). To Detective Andy Miller, the location of the body strongly suggested that Chris was murdered by a resident who had access and control of the house, was familiar with the crawl space, and had sufficient knowledge of the family's schedule to avoid being detected. But another important detail is that the killer had to be a slim individual in order to go into the crawl space and bury the body.
The first person to be notified of the murder was Chris's high school girlfriend Carlotta Davis. The news was devastating to her, she considered Chris her 1st love and that they had dated from 1983 all the way until the day he went missing in January 1984. She didn't believe that he would runaway without a word. When asked about his relationship with his parents, she stated that his home life was very chaotic and he often clashed with his stepfather Jackson Villarta.
Detectives Miller along with Bob Eggers flew down to Ohio to interview Chris's sister Cherie (who was in 8th grade at the time her brother went missing).Like Carlotta, Cherie also described that their home life (with their mother Dale and stepfather Jackson Villarta) was chaotic. She described her stepfather as a strict and authoritative individual who would setup very harsh rules (which were mostly inhumane) and that her brother would fight back by breaking the rules. She did add that Chris talked about running away because he also clashed with their mother but never intended to go through with it. Before wrapping up the interview, they asked Cherie if she recalled smelling a horrible odor, she stated that her mother and stepfather said that one of the pet snakes got loose and died somewhere in the residence (which made police suspicious because they were familiar with the smell decomposing human flesh). They returned to CA and questioned Dale. Once again, they were getting the same story regarding Chris's strained relationship with Jackson because of his harsh rules. When asked about the odor, Dale made the same statement as Cherie stated that she thought it was a dead snake. She told authorities that she’d believed her missing son was still alive somewhere. But Dale also added that on January 19, 1984, she received a Mailgram, which stated:
"Mom, I am fine. I am on my way to Newport Beach. Stop. Sorry. I had to leave too soon. I wish I could have stayed. Stop. I wish I could have continued to go to school there, but other circumstances came up. Jack was right in some ways. I'm sorry for being very rude to you. Please take care of my things for me. Stop. I will either come for them or send for them. Stop. Later, Chris. P.S. See you when I'm in the NFL." Dale insisted that it was fake (as did most other family members) and didn't believe Chris would even know how to send one. But the original officers (in 1984) considered the matter closed and refused to investigate it further.
When asked if anyone in the family owned guns, she stated that Jackson was a gunowner. Dale was eliminated as a suspect since there was no evidence to link her and since she was overweight (She was also pregnant at the time of murder) it was highly unlikely for her to enter the narrow crawl space.
Detectives then turned their attention to Jackson Villarta and discovered that he was in fact a slim individual with the right height to enter the crawlspace. Although he was cooperative, his statements made police suspicious. He did confirmed that his relationship with Chris was strained but stated that it was normal, teenagers always have conflicts with their stepparents. They asked if he was a gun owner and he stated that he owned 2 guns, a 22 Caliber Rifle and a 357 Revolver (consistent with the murder bullet at the crime scene). But what made them more suspicious was that he reiterated his belief that Chris had run away from home. When police told him the truth that Chris had actually been murdered and buried underneath the family home he was remarkably calm, they noted. Plus he portrayed Chris in a negative manner saying that he was out of control and refused to play by his rules. He was also adamant that he didn't smelling any unusual odors in the house, contradicting the statements of what Dale and Cherie told police earlier. Detectives accused Jackson of killing Chris and disposing of his body in the crawl space, but he denied it with the same ambivalence that he’d consistently shown during the hours-long interview.
Detectives obtained a warrant to search Villarta's residence where they collected his 357 Revolver and box of ammo along with various documents. The phone records showed that the mailgram (allegedly sent by Chris) had actually been ordered from and billed to Villarta's residence. The one sentence in the mail gram "Jack was right in some ways" made it clear that Jackson was the author of the mailgram because they knew Chris hated his stepfather and that he would never have said that statement. Ballistic testing on Jackson's 357 Revolver was confirmed to be the murder weapon and the lead from the grave was also consistent as coming from the same box of ammo from Villarta. Less than 2 weeks later Jackson was arrested and charged with murder. Based on the evidence, police believe that on January 13, 1984, Chris and Jackson got into a heated argument which soon got out of control. Since Jackson was smaller than Chris (who was tall and athletic) he knew he had no chance of winning a physical fight, so he grabbed his 357 Revolver and killed him. He then dragged Chris's lifeless body into the crawl space and buried it. To make it appear that Chris was a runaway, he then sent a phony telegram to Dale, hoping the police wouldn't investigate it further.
Preparing for trial Detective Miller and Officer Paul Cervantes conducted a reenactment of the grave digging. Officer Cervantes, who was approximately the same height and weight as Villarta dug a trench under Villarta's former residence using a short handled hoe (identical to the one recovered at the crime scene). The trench was the same size and depth as the grave found under the house. Digging as fast as he could, Officer Cervantes was able to dig and refill the trench in one hour and five minutes. It clearly demonstrated that the killer couldn't have been an outsider.
Dale stated at trial that several of the phrases in the Mailgram were suspicious and did not appear to come from Chris. According to Dale, Chris did not know anyone in Newport Beach. She said that Chris would not have used the phrase "too soon" and never would have admitted that "Jack was right in some ways (because she knew how much her son hated his stepfather)." She pointed that Jackson’ used the word "rude" and not Chris. Finally, Dale stated that, although Chris played high school football, he had no aspirations of playing in the NFL. Cherie also testified that the content and style of the Mailgram language was inconsistent with the style and content of language used by Chris. Prior to the murder there was a lot of friction between Chris and Jackson. They mostly fought because Jackson would set up very harsh rules and Chris would fight back by choosing not to play by his rules. The final straw may have been Chris accusing Jackson of poisoning the family dogs (killing one of them and leaving another in critical condition). That dog did recover but Jackson gave it away and its whereabouts remains unknown. It was between Thanksgiving and December 7, 1983, Cherie came home from school to find one dog dead and the other dog very sick. Her grandmother Annis who was home at the time, was feeding the sick dog milk. When Chris arrived home, he became extremely upset and called Dale at work. Dale couldn’t leave work early to take the surviving dog to the vet. Chris went to his neighbor's house and asked them to help him transport the dog. However, their mother was not home and they had no access to a car. The dog recovered a few hours later. When Dale returned home from work that evening, she found a chewed-up container of gopher poison near the dog food dish. Cherie recalled seeing blue D-Con in the dog food dish and dog food bag. Jackson had purchased the gopher poison and kept it in a locked cabinet in the garage (which only he had the keys to). Later that month, while Chris was visiting his father Michael for Christmas, Jackson gave away the surviving dog and Chris wasn’t happy about it. Jackson told Dale that he left the dog at a farm belonging to "Irrigator Joe." But when Dale and Chris went to the farm, the owners told them they had not seen the dog. Dale did find the dog's collar in Jackson’s truck. My theory is that Jackson most likely ditched it in an unknown location and maybe that’s why the farm owners never saw the dog. Chris must’ve confronted Jackson about the situation and that the argument got so out of control that Jackson grabbed his 357 Revolver and killed him. He then buried his body in the crawl space. The problem was, he didn’t bury it deep enough nor covered the body with anything and that caused the smell of decomposition to linger throughout the house. Dale and Cherie told police the same story that they thought it was a dead snake but when Jackson was asked about it, he contradicted their story by saying that he didn’t recall smelling anything bad.
I also wonder if Jackson was thinking about wanting to kill both Chris and Cherie. It was during the second week of January 1984, when Jackson told Dale that he was fed up with Chris and Cherie and wanted them out of the house. He told Dale "if you don't get these kids out of here, I will. . . . I can't stand it anymore." Around the same time, he made a similar statement to Annis Denoyer and he’d already told several other people of how much he resented his stepchildren and he never treated them the same way as he would treat his own children (whom he had with Dale).
Chris didn’t get along with his mother also Chris’s friend Robert Pruitt recalled on one occasion when Chris told Dale to "try fucking off." On another occasion, Chris pushed Dale during an argument. She found a bag of marijuana stems in Chris's room and confronted him with it. Dale also found a stash of alcohol bottles belonging to Chris and Cherie in a trap door in the kitchen pantry leading to the crawl space underneath the house. Dale had arranged for the entire family to go to counseling, but Jackson attended only one session then refused to continue (contradicting Jackson’s statements as trying to be a good role model). He was selfish and had a tendency to put post-it notes on his favorite foods. The notes contained statements such as "Don't eat this. Property of Jack's. Don't touch." If Chris or Cherie ate his food or touched his things, he would became very upset. Plus he wouldn’t allow Chris to use the phone or let him watch his favorite shows on TV. But one thing I’d to ask Dale is why did she list Carlotta Davis (Chris’s girlfriend) as a contact reference on the missing persons report?
