Monster Meets Innocent Woman at a Casino and Leaves Her For Dead

Watch this police interrogation with intense raw interrogation from the interrogation room as police conduct a full interrogation of a suspect. This raw interrogation footage captures every moment of the suspect interview, complete with deception detection techniques, and criminal psychology in true JCS style interrogation. The Background Key people: Christopher Almaral (~24–25, Ellensburg resident, self-identified North Side Varrio/NSV street gang member affiliated with Norteños); Stephanie Curtis (34, Toppenish/Wapato area, mother of three, no prior relationship to Almaral); Pedro Garcia de la Cruz (Almaral’s coworker/friend present earlier that night, not charged). Relationships: Strangers who met by chance. Curtis approached Almaral (wearing all red, gang colors) and Garcia at Legends Casino in Toppenish on the night of January 6, 2018, complimenting him and saying she wanted to party/drink. They left together. Motive: Almaral claimed self-defense after deciding he could not continue driving (due to alcohol/cocaine) and intending to leave Curtis alone on a remote cold road. He said she became angry, struck him, took his short-barreled shotgun from the trunk, pointed it at him, and that he feared a rival-gang setup. Prosecutors rejected self-defense and charged first-degree (premeditated) murder; the jury rejected the claim. The Crime Date/location: Early morning of January 7, 2018, along State Route 821 (Yakima River Canyon), about 4 miles south of Ellensburg, Kittitas County, Washington. Body found between ~7–7:30 a.m. by a passing motorist. Sequence: After the casino, the group (Almaral driving a red Mercedes) stopped for alcohol, drove toward Ellensburg/Mill Pond, briefly visited a friend’s trailer where Almaral used cocaine and Curtis drank, then Almaral and Curtis left alone. He stopped on the remote canyon road, told her he could not drive further and she would have to go alone (offering cash/blanket). A confrontation ensued and he shot her twice with a .38-caliber handgun (chest, then head). Autopsy confirmed the head wound was fatal; shots were at close range and downward angle. She was killed at the scene. Afterward: Almaral had demonstrated the short-barreled shotgun to Curtis earlier. After the shooting he recovered it, placed it in the trunk, returned to the trailer, falsely told Garcia he had dropped her at home, and drove Garcia home without mentioning the killing. The Investigation Suspect behavior: Identified through casino surveillance (showing the trio leaving in the red Mercedes), traffic/business video, and the vehicle linked to his family. Arrested around January 16–17, 2018. In a recorded jail interview played at trial he admitted shooting Curtis, initially framing it as her reaching for a gun and a perceived rival-gang threat. At trial his self-defense account added details (shotgun involvement, knee to the groin) that differed from the initial interview. Key evidence: Casino and other surveillance; matching red clothing recovered from his residence/vehicle; the .38 handgun (consistent with wounds, found in the vehicle’s center console; stolen but jury acquitted on that count); short-barreled shotgun from the residence; autopsy findings; text messages with Garcia; Dollar Tree receipt and hospital bracelet establishing Curtis’s movements. Inconsistencies: Differences between initial statements and trial testimony on the sequence; claim of leaving her safely versus abandoning her body on a freezing roadside and lying to Garcia. Conviction and Sentencing Charges: First-degree murder of Stephanie Curtis (with firearm allegation), possession of a stolen firearm, possession of a controlled substance (cocaine), and possession of an unlawful firearm (short-barreled shotgun). He pleaded guilty pretrial to the drug and unlawful-firearm counts; the stolen-firearm count went to the jury. Trial: December 2019, Kittitas County Superior Court. Jury found him guilty of first-degree murder (with firearm) and not guilty of possession of a stolen firearm. Sentencing: February 7, 2020. Lengthy prison term for the murder plus 36 months community custody. Exact term length is described only as “lengthy” in public appellate records. Appeal: Washington Court of Appeals (Division III, 2022) affirmed the first-degree murder conviction, vacated the controlled-substance conviction (per State v. Blake), vacated the unlawful-firearm plea, and remanded for further proceedings and resentencing. The murder conviction stood.