FOX31 Denver

Missing pregnant woman found dead, suspect in custody

Luis Raul Valenzuela, on suspicion of second-degree murder (photo credit: CBI)

IGNACIO, Colo. (KDVR) — A 28-year-old pregnant woman was found dead after she was missing for about a week and a 34-year-old man is in custody on suspicion of her murder.

Luis Raul Valenzuela is facing a charge of second-degree murder after the body of Raeanna “Nikki” Burch-Woodhull, an endangered Indigenous woman, was found in the area of Highway 550 and County Road 310, south of Durango, the Colorado Bureau of Investigations said.

Burch-Woodhull went missing in the early morning hours of Nov. 27. She was in the second trimester of her pregnancy, and CBI investigators said she had multiple tattoos of “Luis” on her face and neck. Investigators believe Valenzuela and Burch-Woodhull knew each other.

The CBI is heading up the investigation and working with the Ignacio Police Department, the 6th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, La Plata County Coroner’s Office, and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office of the Department of Public Safety.