Fast Horse Ranch is associated with the roadside discovery of a teenage girl whose death became part of a wider investigation into old and connected murders. The scene was treated first as a possible illegal dumping site; its evidence later contributed to a shifting suspect picture, in which fingerprint matches complicated the investigation rather than simply confirming its initial direction.

Setting and Discovery

A witness walking her dog saw what appeared to be garbage dumped near the road and reported it shortly before noon. Investigators estimated that the remains had been at the site for about an hour and a half. The victim was described as a Hispanic girl in her teens. The initial call therefore framed the location as a dumping site before the scale and nature of the crime became clear.

Crime-Scene Investigation

Detective Brian Fellows left Sue Lammers and her dog, Ranger, in the care of a deputy and went to the scene. Technicians made casts of tire tracks on the road shoulder, while another worker photographed the area about ten yards from the road. The site’s placement beside the road made vehicle evidence an immediate investigative concern. The discovery also affected the experienced detective: the evidence of prolonged mistreatment made the scene difficult to absorb even for someone accustomed to homicide work.

Evidence and the Wider Case

Later forensic work showed how evidence associated with the murder could both answer and redirect questions. The machete identified as the presumed weapon had been found soaking in soapy water in a kitchen sink; although traces of blood remained, usable fingerprints could not be recovered from it. By contrast, plates and silverware yielded two sets of prints. Alvin Miller found the suspect’s prints on both sets of dishes, a result consistent with his having served the meal and cleared up afterward, while the unidentified prints offered a possible route to identifying the victim and advancing the investigation.

The case’s investigative context reached back to 1970, when investigators considered whether the father of Roseanne Orozco’s baby had killed her, then let the inquiry lapse after learning that he was not the baby’s father. Decades later, newer forensic tools made it possible to revisit evidence, though doing so meant reopening painful questions for Roseanne’s family. Subsequent comparisons excluded Larry Stryker as the source of prints on a Burger King cup and found that one Orozco print matched an unidentified print from Erik LaGrange’s house; the same unidentified-print connection also appeared in Yuma County. The location’s narrative significance thus belongs to a broader pattern of investigation: physical clues gathered in separate cases unsettled assumptions and redirected attention toward a suspect who had been present in both relevant periods.