A man believed by authorities to be responsible for the death of a man found with a gunshot wound following a three-vehicle crash on U.S. 24 in late August has been arrested.
Jose Cruz Diaz Vazquez, 26, was arrested in connection to the death of Noel Gutierrez-Cano, 29, whose remains were found inside the passenger seat of a white truck hauling a black trailer after the crash, located near Judge Orr Road in unincorporated El Paso County the morning of Aug. 26. How and why the shooting occurred remains unclear.
Noel Gutierrez-Cano was riding in a vehicle involved in a three-car crash on U.S. Highway 24 on Aug. 26, 2025. Authorities say he suffered at least one gunshot wound, but how and why that happened remains unclear.
Diaz Vazquez, an alleged undocumented immigrant, was said to have fled following the crash. The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office later received tips and video footage that connected a traffic stop of two men that occurred immediately after the wreck to the investigation, according to a Wednesday news release from the office.
In that stop, the faces of two men, who did not have driver’s licenses, vehicle registration and insurance, were visible through body-worn camera footage. One of them was Diaz Vazquez, according to the release.
Days later, the Sheriff’s Office learned that Diaz Vazquez was arrested in Las Vegas, N.M., on an unrelated outstanding warrant. It is unclear why he was in the state. After an interview with detectives, the suspect was charged with second-degree murder.
Diaz Vazquez is currently being held at the Doña Anna County jail in Las Cruces, N.M., on a $500,000 cash-only bond, but there are plans to extradite him to the El Paso County jail.
Kurt Smith, a spokesperson from the office, said the Diaz Vazquez is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico.
Over the course of the investigation, the Sheriff’s Office said it worked with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Marshals Service, Customs and Borders Protection and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to identify Diaz Vazquez.
