Woman Suspected Of Stealing Child's Ashes During Heist Fails To Appear

INDIO, CA — A woman suspected in a break-in at an Indio storage unit, where items were stolen including the ashes of the victim's deceased son, failed to appear in court for her arraignment Thursday and had a warrant issued for her arrest.

Taylor Spencer, 31, of Thousand Palms is charged with one felony count each of burglary and receiving stolen property, according to court records.

She was set to be arraigned on the charges Thursday morning at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, but did not appear in court and had a warrant issued for her arrest, according to Riverside County District Attorney's office spokeswoman Brooke Beare.

Co-defendant Wally Venecia, 43, of Indio, who is charged with receiving stolen property, was also set to appear in court for a felony settlement conference but had a warrant issued for his arrest.

Victor Banuelos, 54, of La Quinta was charged with three felony counts of being a convicted felon and narcotic addict in possession of a firearm, and one felony count each of receiving stolen property, possessing controlled substances while armed and possessing ammunition. Banuelos' next court appearance was set for Jan. 3, 2024.

Juan Carlos Molina of Indio, 36, pleaded guilty Nov. 28 to one felony count of burglary and was immediately granted one year of supervised release.

The burglary occurred on Nov. 7 or Nov. 8 at Prime Storage in the 42900 block of Madison Street, according to the Indio Police Department. Detectives pursued multiple leads over the following days, during which two traffic stops and a search warrant led them to arrest Molina.

Detectives then allegedly found some of the victim's belongings at a Bermuda Dunes motel. A search warrant was subsequently served in Palm Desert, where Banuelos was arrested for allegedly having a large amount of the victim's property, an assault weapon, additional handguns and 1 1/3 pounds of methamphetamine for sale.

He was arrested Nov. 10 and booked into the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, but was released Nov. 16.

"Due to the continuing investigation, the child's ashes were dropped off at Cal Fire Station No. 81 (in Palm Desert)," police said. "Detectives quickly responded to the fire station and contacted the Riverside County Coroner, who was in possession of the ashes of the victim's child."

The ashes were delivered to the family, and two additional suspects — Venecia and Spencer — were subsequently found and arrested Nov. 13 in Coachella, according to police.

Spencer was booked into the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility, but was released the next day on a $10,000 bail bond, according to inmate records. Venecia was booked into the John J. Benoit Detention Center, but was subsequently released on a $50,000 bail bond.

Anyone with additional information on the burglary was asked to call Detective Andres Meraz at 760-541-4120 or Valley Crime Stoppers anonymously at 760-341-7867.