SAN ANGELO, TX — The San Angelo Police Department detectives have been seeking the whereabouts of Wendy McCluskey since she was wanted for questioning regarding a murder in San Angelo in October. She was located and apprehended in Odessa Monday and today, after further police investigation, she was charged with murder.
Police named McCluskey as a person of interest in their investigation of the murder of Juan Victorio Quintana whose lifeless body was found lying near several Laredo Taco Company burritos in front of a residence on E. 20th St. at around 5:30 a.m. the morning of Oct 24. See the story here.
The murder appeared to be a drive-by shooting and gang-related episode. Already arrested and charged in the murder was Abel Rueda, 31, who, police say, while driving a black mid-2000s model Cadillac CTS, stalked victim Quintana as the victim and a witness walked down 20th St. following stopping to shop at the Stripe’s Convenience Store that was located the next block over at 809 E. 19th St.
According to the police affidavit, Rueda was observed entering the Cadillac CTS in the same Stripes parking lot at around the same time and it was caught on video procured from the Stripes on 19th. While Rueda was entering his car, a female that appeared to be accompanying Rueda, was completing a purchase at the counter. The victim and the witness were apparently purchasing burritos at the same time. The witness described to police how Rueda glared at Quintana while all were inside the convenience store together.
Several minutes after departing the Stripes on foot, as the victim and a witness were walking westbound on 20th, the witness said the Cadillac circled the block and came back to the two men. The driver stopped the Cadillac in the middle of 20th St. in front of the two men and the witness said Rueda rolled down the window of the CTS to ask the victim, “What set do you claim?”
Quintana replied, “San Angelo,” according to the witness.
With that, the police report alleges, Rueda pointed a shotgun at Quintana and fired one shot. The blast blew a sizable wound in the upper right torso of Quintana. An autopsy conducted later found that Quintana died of the wound.
Wendy McCluskey
A warrant was issued for Rueda for Murder. Rueda was arrested in Howard County and transferred to the Tom Green County Jail on Dec. 4. He remains in jail on a $500,000 bond. He is also charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a controlled substance, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon in Howard County. Rueda was indicted for murder, a first degree felony, on Dec 9.
Police later identified the woman seen on camera at the 19th St. Stripes as Wendy McCluskey, who was Rueda’s girlfriend and her Facebook profile states she is in a relationship with Rueda. McCluskey had an out-of-county warrant for her arrest for Tampering with Evidence. McCluskey has ties to San Angelo, Midland, Odessa, Big Spring, and Andrews.
On Dec. 15, SAPD Detectives working with the Texas Rangers, members of the USMS Lone Star Fugitive Task Force, and officers with the Odessa Police Department CID/SWAT executed a search warrant at a residence in Odessa. Investigators had probable cause that Wendy McCluskey was inside this location.
Police said they found more than Ms. McCluskey during the Odessa raid. Police also obtained more evidence for this case inside the residence using a search warrant. McCluskey was arrested.
Abel Rueda (Contributed: Tom Green County Jail)
On Dec. 18, police said they formally charged McCluskey, 29, with murder.
On one of the public photos on McCloskey’s Facebook profile, she is seated next to Rueda. The caption on the photo is, “There’s a kind of love that only God knows. Faith over fear.”
McCluskey has not yet been transferred to San Angelo from the Ector County Jail, according to records.
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