Michael Anthony Tapia, a 16-year-old Hispanic male, was found dead on January 31, 2016, in a desert area near Flager Street and Tangerine Avenue in Montana Vista, El Paso, Texas. Deputies responding to a report of an unresponsive person discovered his body; an autopsy showed a single gunshot wound to the back of the neck and estimated he had been dead about two weeks before being found.

Investigators determined the killing was drug-related and say Tapia had been accused of stealing drugs from a Fort Bliss soldier. On January 16, 2016, two soldiers reportedly confronted Tapia at a Far East El Paso home, left with him for roughly an hour and a half, and returned without him. Witnesses later reported one of the soldiers bragged about killing Tapia and said an AR-15 had been used.

The community lost a teenager in a violent incident tied to drugs. Does anyone have information about Tapia’s movements in mid-January 2016 or saw him near Far East El Paso around January 16?