James Montoya was seen leaving his favorite Denver-area billiards spot with a stranger in the wee hours of April 2 to keep the party going. On July 26, after an exhaustive search effort, his remains were found nearly four hours away.
Montoya, 26, had been playing pool at Hangar 101 Bar and Grill with Jesus Angel Arvizo, 33, and Amber Dominguez, 30, among a group that police said he had just met that night.
At a press conference last Tuesday, investigators said they believe Arvizo shot Montoya dead after an argument in his car, then dumped his body in Saguache County.
Denver Police announced a first-degree murder warrant for Arvizo's arrest; Dominguez, who police believe was in the car at the time of the alleged fatal argument, has been arrested and charged as an accessory in the killing, according to the Denver District Attorney's Office.
"What kind of argument would make someone want to shoot my son?" bereaved mother Corinna Montoya asked in an interview with Fox News Digital. "Even if [Montoya] did say something and they were all drinking… even if he did say something inappropriate, to me any sensible person would pull over and say ‘get out.’ Or, worst case, you beat them up or something. But to shoot him? That's senseless and extreme."
The search is on for Arvizo, per the Denver Police Department – although he has a Denver address, he is believed to be somewhere in Alamosa County.
Long before police announced Arvizo's suspected involvement in Montoya's killing, even months before their son's body was found, Corinna said she and her husband knew the man was hiding something.
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Montoya's girlfriend knew something was awry when she awoke at 5:30 a.m. to find that her partner had never returned home. After repeated unanswered calls, she called Montoya's sister, who then contacted parents Corinna and Eddie.
Corinna told Fox News Digital, her son posted a Snapchat around 2:30 a.m. from the Lakewood bar, his frequent hang-out about five minutes from his house, where the lifelong player would often bring his own pool cue.
Her "extrovert" son had glad-handed with "about 25 people" that night, Corinna said of the bar's security footage, before he left in Arvizo's car.
"[Arvizo] was not friends with my son, he'd met him that morning or night playing pool," she told Fox News Digital. "My son is really good at pool, he was really extroverted… he'd talk to anybody – if he had a good conversation with you he'd say you're his friend. He never met somebody he didn't like, he was friends with everybody."
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The owner of Hangar 101, who asked that his name not be used, said that the body language seen between Montoya, Dominguez and Arvizo during the three-hour period at the bar was "not aggressive" and "very friendly" – Montoya hugged at least one of the new acquaintances.
"Nothing there indicated that would happen a few hours later. People playing pool, having a good time," the owner, who said he has cooperated fully with police, said. "We knew [James] pretty well – I think Hangar was his favorite place to be. [But] I guess his fate was to meet the devil that particular night… Making a bad decision one night shouldn't cause you to die."
After they learned Arvizo spent time with their son the night he went missing, Corinna said she and her husband found his home address and made a beeline there – but no one answered when they knocked, Corinna said. They put in a missing person's report for Montoya around 4 p.m. that afternoon.
When the parents first tracked down and called Arvizo, Corinna said, they were "just asking" about the time he had spent with their son – but the couple quickly realized the man's behavior was suspect, and the conversation turned hostile.
"He confirmed that he did meet him and that [Montoya] was a really cool guy, but [claimed] he had dropped him off and didn't know where he was," Corinna told Fox News Digital. "He [didn't] give any specifics and couldn't go into any detail… we just knew he was lying."
Corinna said she interrupted Arvizo's phone conversation with her husband.
"I said ‘you know what? We’re going to get video footage from the Hangar Bar… and you need to fess up now to what you've done to my son.'"
Corinna said Arvizo calmly replied that she was making some "pretty strong allegations."
"We said ‘Yeah, we know you did something to our son and you know where he is,’" Corinna recalled – at that point, she said, Arvizo hurriedly hung up the line.
From the "highways to the byways, dumpsters to back roads," Corinna said, Montoya's girlfriend and family searched for months.
However, in July, Corinna said, she received a text from her son's girlfriend – the body of a man fitting her son's description was found, shot dead, in Saguache County.
"[Area police] showed a couple different articles of [the dead man's] clothing," Corinna said. "[We recognized Montoya's] shoe that he wore that morning – the minute we saw the dress shoe it sank in. [We had a] picture of what he was wearing that morning… We knew and reached out to detectives, it hadn't reached Denver yet."
After their press conference with Denver Police announcing the search for Arvizo, Corinna said, she's "praying he comes forward… or someone turns him in."
"This is a dangerous individual," she told Fox News Digital. "For someone to just snap and kill somebody and go through all of this to hide his body… he's just not a safe individual to be in the community."
If Arvizo "wants to stay in hiding," she said, her family is "not going to go away."
The Denver Police Department told Fox News Digital that Arvizo has at least four prior weapons-related arrests – the Colorado Bureau of Investigation could not be reached at press time for specifics.
Police asked anyone with information about the case to call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.
