OKLAHOMA CITY – State authorities are investigating a possible connection to a horrific murder case that shocked the community more than five years ago.
Investigators are at a home in the 500 block of N. Oakdale, near N.W. 10th and MacArthur Blvd, investigating a possible evidence in connection to the Carina Saunders case.
Officials said they can not give specifics on why they are at the home; however we do know that an excavation crew is on scene.
Jessica Brown with the OSBI says several tips led them to the home.
Crews are using ground penetrating radar to find anomalies under ground.
Officials with the medical examiner’s office are on standby.
KFOR crews are working to gather more information.
On Oct. 13, 2011, officers were called to the Homeland store on N.W. 23rd St. after receiving numerous reports of a foul odor.
When they arrived, investigators found a black bag with a severed human head and other dismembered body parts inside.
Shortly after the discovery, authorities learned the body belonged to 19-year-old Carina Brianne Saunders.
Throughout the investigation, officials learned Saunders may have been tortured and killed at an abandoned house in southwest Oklahoma City before her body was dumped in Bethany.
Court documents detailed how one suspect, Jimmy Massey, who was already in the county jail on drug charges, told another inmate “he was involved in the homicide and described the fact that they cut the girl’s arms and legs off.”
Officials said he hand wrote a letter to another inmate “describing what parts of the body were dismembered and perhaps more importantly, how the body was wrapped prior to disposal.”
Two witnesses also implicated Luis Ruiz in the horrific murder.
Police spoke with another girl who was reportedly with Saunders at the time of her murder.
That girl told investigators she “witnessed Ruiz physically beat Carina Saunders and then tie her up. That he drug her to an upstairs room and tied her to a small table… that he then cut off her left foot and then tried to cut off her right foot when the saw broke.”
That girl reportedly jumped out a window to escape.
Another woman, who said she was in a hotel room with Ruiz, said she saw video of the homicide on his cell phone.
In July 2012, Ruiz and Massey were both officially charged with first-degree murder.
For eight months, Ruiz and Massey remained in police custody before the charges were dropped.
Ruiz and Massey were both released from jail.
District attorney David Prater dismissed the murder charges without prejudice.
That means the charges can be re-filed against the suspects in the future.
“This dismissal means they’re having all sorts of problems with the case and with witnesses,” attorney David Slane said at the time the charges were dismissed.
Attorney Slane represented one woman who claimed to have witnessed Saunders’ death but later recanted.
Slane pointed out the dismissal does not mean Ruiz and Massey are free from suspicion.
“The district attorney’s office is free to re-file at a later time if they choose, but at this time they’re looking for more evidence to support those charges,” Slane said in 2013.
The OSBI continues to investigate the horrific murder case.
Officials with the OSBI said at a press conference Wednesday that they have never been able to locate the alleged video of Saunders’ horrific murder.
The OSBI is offering $10,000 for that video.
Since Saunders didn’t have a cell phone or a vehicle and relied on others for those things, authorities are asking anyone who gave Saunders a ride or let her use their phone to call the OSBI.
Investigators say Saunders was last seen getting inside a red, dual cab pickup at the Newcastle Casino on Oct. 8, 2011.
One man inside the truck had tattoo sleeves on both arm.
Officials are hoping to identify that man and the other people inside the truck.
If you have any information about the video or Saunders’ death, please call the OSBI at 1-800-522-8017.
