On Aug. 5, 2019 the Monte Vista Police department arrested Ralph Wayne Hall. The 41 year-old was arrested and charged with telephone obstruction of service, assault to strangulation, 3rd degree assault – recklessly knowingly causing bodily injury, false imprisonment, forced kidnapping, sexual assault by force, and menacing. All of these charges stemmed from an incident that occurred at 316 ½ Dennis Street in Monte Vista. Since August, Hall has been imprisoned in the Rio Grande County jail with a $500,000 bond.   Halls arraignment was Aug. 6.  On Sept. 19 he had a preliminary hearing that was waved to Dec. 3.
Monte Vista police Sergeant Michael Martinez, who was in charge of the investigation into Hall, said that at the beginning of 2019 they had received some calls from concerned citizens living in Arizona and New Mexico. The callers said they were family and friends of Hall and told the Monte Vista police department that they believed Hall had mental health issues. They told them that Hall may have killed some women in New Mexico. Hall had lived in Arizona before moving to Monte Vista. “When all these friends and family started pointing out to us that he could be a problem, we checked his criminal history. He had a violent history in Arizona where he had broken into an ex-girlfriend’s home and stabbed her boyfriend. Hall was sentenced to jail in Arizona. He served a lengthy sentence but he received parole for good behavior. While on parole in Arizona,  he was given permission to move to Colorado with the stipulation that he couldn’t leave the state. We knew he still needed to serve some time if he violated his parole so we began the investigation in New Mexico to see if we could find these missing women that he claimed to have killed and dumped their bodies,” said Sergeant Martinez.At the beginning of August, police received a 911 call from Hall’s apartment. Law enforcement found a woman in his apartment who said she had been tied up, duct taped, held captive and raped by Hall for a period of several days. The woman also told them she was from New Mexico. “We knew that he had a history with claiming that he murdered girls from New Mexico, so we started putting that together (that part of the investigation is still pending.) But with the captive female in his house we found a lot of forensic evidence that linked him to the crime,” stated Sergeant Martinez.
 “The community is a safer place without him,” Sergeant Martinez said. Martinez also expressed how grateful he was to the woman who was victimized and spoke up in Hall’s apartment, “It was terrible that there was a victim, but she was such a strong victim, and a victim that was able to overcome him and speak up. We got lucky with that. I’m very thankful that the victim was strong and powerful. I hate that she had to be victimized by this guy. But her speaking up is what’s going to get justice for whomever else he victimized in New Mexico.”
The case is being handled by the 12th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. Hall is scheduled to reappear in Rio Grande County Court Dec. 18 at 10 a.m.