Three years after a Corpus Christi woman who went missing, and was thought to have been murdered, the man accused of killing her has been indicted on a murder charge.
A Cameron County jury on Nov. 4 indicted Anthony Eliff III, 47, of Harlingen, on one count of murder in connection with the death of Elyn Loera, 32, state court documents show.
According to the indictment, Eliff on or about the Sept. 12, 2019 “did then and there intentionally or knowingly cause the death of an individual, namely Elyn Loera Cuellar, by a manor or means unknown by a grand jury or did then and there intentionally or knowingly cause the death of an individual, namely Elyn Loera Cuellar, by shooting the said Elyn Loera Cuellar, with a firearm.”
Eliff is scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment charge Nov. 30, before 107 state District Court Judge Benjamin Euresti Jr., court records indicate.
Lorea went missing in October 2019 after telling her mother she was traveling to Harlingen to visit her boyfriend, Anthony Eliff III. She boarded a bus in September 2019 to make the trip to the Rio Grande Valley. That was the last time her mother had seen her.
Loera’s mother has since passed away.
Human remains found Feb. 10, 2020, in a brushy lot west of Business 77 in San Benito were confirmed to belong to Loera, Harlingen Police Commander J.L. Garcia said in an earlier interview in May 2022.
The remains had been sent off for DNA testing at the University of North Texas and the results indicated they are that of the missing woman, according to Harlingen police. “It was conclusive,” Garcia said.
Garcia said at that time that although authorities don’t have a cause of death because the remains were badly decomposed, they did have enough information to charge Eliff with Loera’s murder.
Eliff III remains in custody at a Cameron County facility on a $1 million bond.
He was already jailed on a separate murder charge for killing a Harlingen man.
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