Natalie Vasquez murdered by husband Matthew Mirabal

Finishing an episode of Forensic Files typically leaves me with a certain feeling. When justice has been rightly served, I feel satisfied. And normally, I'm left feeling sympathy for the victims and their families. And while my condolences to go out to both Enselma and Mikaela, I'm aware of another feeling: Nausea. The recorded conversations between Matthew and his concubines make me cringe and physically recoil. Here's a sample from the episode's 8:10 mark where Matthew is talking to his sister-in-law Lisa:

• Lisa: What would you like me to do?
• Matthew: I'd like for you to lay on the bed and pull me down on top of you. Naked. Both of us.
• Lisa: You know I like that, huh?
• Matthew: Uh huh.
• Lisa: Oooouuhh. You know me better than anybody.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

My best guess: Their "church" had very strict rules governing the behavior of their female parishioners. These poor women were forced repress their natural behaviors and needs. Often this type of repression can lead good people to do (subjectively) bad things. In the early 1990s, I lived in Idaho Falls. With its proximity to Salt Lake City, the influence of the Mormon religion had a firm hold in Idaho Falls. For those who followed the Latter Day Saints' doctrine, restricted activities ranged from drinking caffeine to premarital sex. I didn't take a formal survey, but it was hard to overlook the number of young, single mothers in the town of nearly 50,000 residents. Ostensibly, these women were getting their first taste of adulthood, and many seemed to choose unprotected, premarital sex. With a Navy base nearby, there was no shortage of young, horny, transient men.

I'm often confused by women who choose to remain part of any organization that doesn't respect and honor them. Our world has a long, torrid history of subjugating women, but modernity has supplanted primitivism – at least among civilized populations. Our ability to choose our tribes and exercise free will has never been more empowered. So why, especially in the "land of opportunity", would females readily surrender their fundamental freedoms? It should be obvious: Any group (religious or otherwise) that actively suppresses the choices and opportunities of women is nothing more than a man-made construct used to perpetuate their repression.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

It seems members of Longmont's Apostolic church actually believed Troy Hancock had a special relationship with God. On a planet with seven billion humans, God chose a manipulative white man in Colorado to carry his word to the masses? When describing the church, Enselma states, "I knew that it wasn't a church anymore; I knew that it was a cult." This was after Hancock's "epiphany from God" that her daughter Natalie should marry Matthew Mirabal. Apparently, all the other strong 'cult' signals from the Apostolic church were overlookable.

Matthew Mirabal's duality

Devout attendees of the Apostolic church, Matthew and his brother Marcus were each married. Their wives were also devoted members of the church. Though Lisa Mirabal denied her affair with Matthew during the trial, a reliable witness gave jurors a more accurate picture. Cynthia Rightsell lived next door to Lisa. For about a solid month, she recalled seeing Marcus leave for work in his orange pickup truck around 7:30am. Then, almost like clockwork, she'd then see a "Mexican guy" enter Lisa and Marcus' apartment through the back door.

Matthew Mirabal seemed evil and callus considering he'd decapitated his wife, and yet caring and passionate listening to his communication with Lisa. Investigators postulated that Matthew may've mutilated his victim to mimic similar crimes in nearby Denver. But all the other very un-clever choices Matthew also made suggest this wasn't the case.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

A novice at committing felonies, Matthew left several clues for investigators to discover. Any time a vehicle is used to commit a crime, its tire tracks can often help police rule a suspect or his vehicle in our out. While a set of tires might not be very distinctive, a combination of mismatched tires can be almost as distinctive as a fingerprint. Matthew was driving his wife's car, and he didn't imagine having three different types of tires could distinguish Natalie's Toyota from others.

Recall another noteworthy case from Forensic Files, that of serial murderer Bobby Joe Long. Among the evidence linking him to his crimes, Bobby Joe also had three distinctive tires on his vehicle. And adding to the specificity of his car, two of these tires had been mounted backwards. It's mathematically impossible that another person in the Tampa area, or even the entire country, would have the same unusual tire configuration.

But the tire impressions were only the tip of the evidence iceberg. I think when you don't plan to be suspected or investigated, you probably don't worry much about possible physical evidence. It didn't take police long to find a pair of gloves with blood on them – and Matthew didn't make it difficult either. He'd simply tucked them between the seats in Natalie's car. Discovering when and where Matthew had obtained the gloves was easy too. Outside his workplace, investigators recovered the Walmart bag and the gloves' packaging. And to connect the dots, Matthew's fingerprints were located on the discarded bag.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

But detectives weren't done. A hole near the thumb in one of the gloves aligned perfectly with a fresh puncture wound on Matthew's hand. Pieces of wood found near Natalie's body matched up with pieces in the back of Matthew's truck. And to top it off, the paper trail clearly defined the motive. Matthew had a $250k life insurance policy on Natalie (recall, he'd initially asked for $1m). This policy was due to lapse and become worthless just three days after Natalie's murder.

All of this evidence reminded me of the series' pilot: The Disappearance of Helle Crafts (s01e01). In this episode, Helle's husband Richard commits the murder and then disposes of her body by feeding it through a woodchipper. He either didn't realize he'd been spotted by the lakeside, or he believed the chipper would cast the debris much further. By the lake's edge, investigators located bone, tissue, hair, fibers, and oh, a piece of mail addressed to Helle.

Matthew Mirabal in his own words

With a lot of time likely on his hands in 2015, Matthew took to sharing his version of the events with anyone who can find it. Securing the Wordpress subdomain "justiceformatthewmirabal", Matt penned over 6,000 words supporting his wrongful conviction. In his version of events, Matthew speaks of living with his wife Natalie, daughter Mikaela (who he doesn't once mention by name), and Natalie's younger brother, Nehemiah (featured in our episode). He still sticks to his Natalie-went-grocery-shopping-after-midnight tale, even though there was no video evidence of Natalie visiting that store. If you have the stomach for it, it's an interesting take on the events from the fall of 1999 and beyond. It even includes a written confession to The Denver Post from whom Matt suggests is the real killer, Richard Barbee.

Matthew's words shared in Forensic Files (our episode is not mentioned in his online narrative) suggest that he was a serial philanderer. Though the defense attempted to claim there was no relationship between Matthew and Lisa, Matt admits to being a "horrible husband" and a "despicable brother" when his affair began in January 1999.  Matt though never mentions Lisa or Marcus by name, nor does he bring up Troy and Janet Hancock.

A stack of outstanding questions

At the episode's conclusion, I was left with a host of unanswered questions. Since Matthew's vision was impaired in his right eye, it was suspected that he'd inadvertently scratched the right side of Natalie's car near Lefthand Canyon. But how did investigators determine these scratches were fresh? Isn't it possible that Natalie's red Corolla had already been scratched?

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

At least two pieces of scrap wood were found near Natalie's body. Similar wood was located in the back of Matthew's truck – so similar that at least two pieces were able to be "fracture matched". But there was no evidence that Matthew's truck had been to Lefthand Canyon. So how would wood, which likely originated from Matt's truck end up at the crime scene?

Around the 13:05 mark of the episode, a photo of the injury to Matthew's left thumb. The timestamp of the interview indicated that he was questioned less than 24 hours before Natalie's murder. If the injury was sustained during the commission of his wife's murder, why doesn't the cut look recent? If anything, the cut on Matthew's thumb looks like it'd been healing for a number of days.

Sharing a witness's description, Detective Ainsworth described Matthew's regular habit of sneaking over to his brother's apartment. Recognized as a painter by his white outfit, Matthew waited until his brother went to work. He'd then rendezvous with his sister-in-law Lisa, and the two would share intimate time together. My question here: How the heck did Matthew keep his job? A tryst here and an encounter there could go unnoticed (or overlooked), but Matthew and Lisa's regular hook-ups were not a secret.

On the topic, did Matthew's liaisons with Lisa only begin after Natalie's murder? Or was Matt actively cheating on his wife before he murdered her? How about his relationship with Janet Hancock? Did this overlap his relationship with Natalie and/or Lisa? It's one thing to seduce your brother's wife. But to lure your cult-like church's pastor's own wife into your bed – that's something else.

And let's talk about the life insurance policy on Natalie for $250k. The episode implied that Matthew had sought out this policy, and that he originally asked for $1m. But in Matt's own narrative, these details aren't congruent. Matt claimed it was Natalie who'd secured the life insurance to protect their daughter Mikaela. He also describes Natalie's intention to insure both her and Matthew. But either way you look at it, something still doesn't add up. The only logical reason the policy would 'expire' three days after Natalie's murder is that the premiums were no longer being paid. So, which version do you believe? The prosecutor's version that Matt obtained the policy on Natalie, or that Natalie was the orchestrator just months before her murder?

Matthew, Natalie, Marcus, Lisa, Troy, and Janet

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

This cases list of actors could substitute for each major character on Friends. But their salacious dealings with each other would be far too risqué for NBC's Must-See TV lineup. Certainly, Natalie herself was not among the bad actors in this case, and her brother-in-law Marcus didn't seem to be either. But Matthew was easily the worst of the bunch for his role in two separate affairs. Both Lisa and Janet were enabling Matthew and cheating on their husbands. And while not called out in the episode, Troy Hancock was leading a religious cult, whether he knew it or not.

I would've liked to learn more about Troy Hancock and the Apostolic church in Longmont in the late-1990s. I regard that some religions still subjugate women, but I don't respect it. It's a rare case indeed where a white male is leading a misogynist organization (often affiliated with a religion) and not taking advantage. With some, it's merely the power and control over his parishioners. For others, it's access to the women with a myth that sex with him is crucial. And for most, it's about the money. It's a bit of poetic justice when we first hear that Troy was callously referring to Natalie after her murder as "that woman", and ultimately learning that his own wife cheated on him with her killer.

The episode's interview with Natalie's mother Enselma was endearing. I'm sure Mikaela's been exposed to a lot of positivity growing up with the larger Vasquez family. Being born in 1999, Mikaela would be 25 years old in 2024. There's a wonderful longform article about this case from November 2000. Writing for Westword® in Denver, Karen Bowers shares loads of additional detail not available in our episode. She must have interviewed Troy Hancock as he's quoted several times in the piece.

Where is Matthew Mirabal now in 2024

Matthew continues to serve his life sentence at the Limon Correctional Facility in Limon, Colorado. He is not eligible for parole. He'll be 45 years old in 2024.