Tucson police announced Friday theyβve determined a 2022 suspicious death was a homicide and a man already jailed in the case now faces an additional charge of first-degree murder.
Officer Francisco Magos, a Tucson Police Department public information officer, gave the following account in a news release:
On Sept. 2 police were called to an apartment complex in the 300 block of East Benson Highway by a woman in distress who identified herself as a visitor. Police found human remains in the apartment and said efforts had been made to hide them.
The apartmentβs resident, identified as Victor Lawrence Farber, 57, spoke to detectives over the phone but did not return to the home and remained at large. On Sept. 9, police found and detained Farber and he and the female visitor were charged with concealment of a dead body.
In October of 2022, the Medical Examinerβs Office identified the body as that of Alexis Ochotorena, 21, and police notified her family of her death.
βInvestigators determined that the victim had sustained substantial trauma and had been concealed for a significant amount of time,β police said Friday.
After following leads and conducting additional interviews, homicide detectives found new information and established probable cause to charge Farber on Thursday, Jan. 26, with murder in Ochotorenaβs death. Farber was still in the Pima County jail on the previous charge and is now being held on a bond of more than $1 million.
Detectives ask anyone with information about the death to call 88-CRIME; callers can remain anonymous.
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