Madeline Pantoja

[Crime Stories Weekend Update] Gorgeous Texas Bartender, 21, VANISHES: Arrest Made

After a night out with friends, Madeline Pantoja returned home, then stopped responding to texts and phone calls.

One of Pantoja’s friends and a sibling went to her apartment, but the door was locked and no one answered. Midland police were called. Officers broke in and found Pantoja’s phone, keys and her dog inside. Her car was also still in the parking lot.

Information began filtering in from neighbors who heard arguing from both inside and outside the apartment and screaming around 1 a.m. Surveillance cameras caught a pickup truck speeding away from the home.

Pantoja’s body is found, 10 days after she vanished. Ex-boyfriends Mario Juan Chacon, 24, is booked on first-degree murder charges.

Joining Nancy Grace Today:

  • Jasmine Hernandez – Victim’s close friend (showed up at Madeline’s apartment the next day when she wasn’t answering her phone) https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-find-madeline #helpusfindmadeline
  • Irv Miller – Criminal Defense Attorney, The Miller Firm; Legal Analyst: CBS2 Chicago WBBM-TV and Legal Technical Advisor to “THE GOOD WIFE” and “THE GOOD FIGHT”- CBS productions
  • Dr. Carla Manly – Clinical Psychologist and Author: “Date Smart: Transform Your Relationships & Love Fearlessly”
  • Dorian Bond – Private detective and owner of Bond Investigations Inc. in Dallas, TX. (largest African American-owned Private Investigative firm in the United States, Licensed in over 42 states and Canada for over 25 years); Former Detective in Arizona and Investigator on the “Baby Gabriel” case in Arizona; Twitter: @bondinvestigate
  • Rachel Hallam – Reporter for KMID TV in Odessa, TX; Twitter: @rachelhallamtv