Rosa Maria Casio, a 24-year-old Hispanic woman from Addison, Texas, was visiting her sister in Juárez, Mexico in August 1987 when she disappeared. She had crossed into El Paso, Texas to purchase postage stamps and was planning to enroll in college on August 17. Casio worked as a waitress and topless dancer and was described by her family as a private person who appeared happy during her brief visit.
She was last seen at the Cabaret Club on Montana Avenue in El Paso with a man who matched the description of David Leonard Wood, a known sex offender with a history of violent crimes against women.
Casio’s car, a green 1974 Ford Gran Torino, was found abandoned in Central El Paso the day after she vanished. Her remains were discovered on September 4, 1987, in a shallow grave in the desert northeast of El Paso, alongside the body of another victim, Karen Baker. The discovery was made by the same utility worker who had found Baker’s body. Casio’s body was in a state of decomposition, and clothing found at the scene matched what she had been wearing when last seen. The burial site was consistent with others linked to a string of murders in the area, later attributed to a serial killer.
The suspect, David Leonard Wood, a 30-year-old white male, had a long criminal history including convictions for indecency with a child and multiple sexual assaults. Witnesses placed Wood with several of the victims shortly before their disappearances. Fiber evidence recovered from Casio’s clothing matched fibers found in a vacuum cleaner bag from Wood’s former residence. Additionally, a woman who survived a rape in the desert identified Wood as her attacker and led police to the location where she had been assaulted—an area that later yielded multiple victims’ remains, including Casio’s.
Wood was arrested and ultimately convicted of the murders of six young women, including Rosa Maria Casio. He was sentenced to death in 1992. The prosecution’s case included testimony from jailhouse informants who claimed Wood had confessed to the killings, describing his victims as dancers or prostitutes and detailing his method of luring them with drugs, binding them, and burying them in the desert. Despite Wood’s continued claims of innocence, he remains on death row in Texas. His case has drawn attention due to questions about the reliability of informant testimony and forensic evidence, but the conviction stands.
