Lilly Lopez

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Socorro County Sheriffs Department (NM)

Missing From:

Polvadera, New Mexico

Summary:

Lilly Lopez, 33, disappeared from Polvadera, New Mexico on April 15, 2009. She was last seen walking along a water-filled ditch near her home after an argument with her boyfriend. One of her shoes was found at the ditch bank, but extensive searches found no body or evidence she fell into the water. The case remains unsolved.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

On April 15, 2009, Lilly Lopez had been drinking with her boyfriend Michael Quintana and one of his friends at her home on Valley Loop Road in Polvadera, New Mexico, where she and her boyfriend shared the residence with their young daughter. An argument occurred and Lopez left the residence. The two men went out to buy more beer, and her boyfriend saw Lopez walking on the bank of a nearby water-filled ditch, talking on her cellular phone. When they returned, she was gone. Her boyfriend initially believed she had gone to Albuquerque to visit her daughter, but several days later when her daughter called looking for her, he realized she wasn't with her. He became worried and searched the area, finding one of Lopez's shoes on the edge of the ditch where she was last seen. He called the police to report her disappearance. An extensive search covering several miles of the ditch turned up no sign of Lopez or her body, and no indications that she had fallen in. Police did locate Lopez's other shoe.

Additional Details:

Authorities are treating Lopez's disappearance as a missing person case rather than an accident or a crime. According to a missing person's report, Quintana told deputies he and Lopez had been drinking and got into an argument. He went on to say that when he left for a beer run he last saw her walking along a desolate ditch bank not far from the home they shared with their young daughter. Quintana told authorities when he returned Lilly was gone. However, he didn't start looking for her for four days. In December 2016, about two months after Sheriff Armijo started another investigation looking through the department for Lilly's entire case file, it was discovered that all that remained was a thin folder with the initial missing person's report and a documented statement, with the rest of the case file having been lost or misplaced. Deputies found Lopez's other shoe in the back of Quintana's Ford Bronco. The department said there's never been any information or evidence in the 'Lilly Lopez' case that's pointed to a crime and no suspects have ever been named. Although Lopez had relinquished her parental rights to four of her five children and they were adopted and raised by others, she cared about them and kept in regular contact with them by phone before her disappearance. In December 2016, Samuel Hutton, one of Lopez's adult sons, spoke publicly for the first time since his biological mother disappeared, pleading for the public's help to solve the case. He reached out hoping if someone had a tip they wouldn't wait another seven years before calling authorities. He stated that his mother had five children who would like to know what happened to her, and that his family was trying to raise money to hire a private detective.

Case Last Updated:

Apr 26, 2026