Manuel Thomas Guillen: New Mexico Couple Faces Charges After Infant's Remains Found in Remote Desert

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In Eddy County New Mexico, a woman and her boyfriend are facing felony charges after the body of her infant daughter was discovered buried in a remote desert.

Briana Ariel Stallings, 25, and Manuel "Manny" Tomas Guillen, 32, were arrested by the Eddy County Sheriff’s Office (ECSO) after the grim recovery of human infant remains near milepost 48 on Queen Highway and State Road 137. 

Stallings is charged with tampering with evidence, while Guillen faces a charge of intentional abuse of a child resulting in death.


Briana Stallings 


The investigation into the couple started in September 2024, when Briana Stallings' family contacted authorities and reported that they had not seen any sign of her baby for close to a year.

"We've never seen her with her baby anymore, and She blocked us all on social media and everything," a cousin told detectives in early September 2024.

Briana Stallings’ great-aunt, Ruby, also confirmed to detectives that she strongly suspected that all wasn’t fine with the baby. 

She said that when she visted them in the hospital after the baby’s birth, Guillen suddenly became angry when she took pictures with the child, and it was awkward to her.

This suspicion led authorities to launch an investigation and within days, detectives located Stallings and Guillen at a trailer belonging to Guillen’s father.

When asked about their daughter’s whereabouts, the couple claimed the baby was with a friend named “Maria” in Mexico. 

However two of them gave a different timeline of when the baby was given to this friend, and also, they could not provide any details like phone number, address, e.t.c to verify the friend’s existence.

Due to this inconsistencies, detectives didn't believe them so they took the couple to the police station for more questioning. During her interview,  Stallings broke down and confessed the baby had died nearly a year earlier. 

She claimed that the baby accidentally suffocated after she slept on the child and, in a panic, she and Guillen buried the body.

As seen in the bodycam footage below, the couple took investigators into a desolate stretch of desert where the remains were recovered, and taken for medical examinations. 

Despite the chilling discovery, the couple were not arrested because the police was treating the case as an accident at the time, and there was no evidence to foul play.



During her first confession, Briana Stallings took full responsibility and said her boyfriend was not involved when the accident happened.

However, when the autopsy results came back, they revealed a different story and completely shifted the direction of the investigation.

The report ruled the death as a homicide, because the child had serious injuries which were inconsistent with an accidental suffocation. 

It also revealed that the child had fentanyl in his system, which further complicated the case.

After these new findings, the couple were tracked down and brought in for further questioning. 

When Guillen was confronted with the new evidence during the follow-up interview in February 2025, Guillen finally came clean with detectives. 

“She was being fussy and I got upset… I sat on top of her,” he stated. When asked how long he sat on her, he replied, “Until she stopped crying.” 

He also admitted to taking Fentanyl that night before the sad tragedy, and after Guillen’s confession, both of them were taken into custody. 

Manuel Thomas Guillen⁷


According to NewsWest9, Stallings was charged with tampering with evidence and conspiracy to commit tampering, while Guillen faces the far more severe charge of intentional abuse of a child resulting in death, along with evidence tampering.

Despite the gravity of the charges, both Stallings and Guillen were reportedly released from the Eddy County Detention Center on bond as of September 2025, while they await trial.

But their release has left the victim’s family terrified and frustrated, fearing they might run away and never face the consequences of their actions. 

“They’ll be gone. He has family in Mexico,” said the child’s great-aunt as she made a desperate plea to detectives to arrest them, as seen in the video above. 

The Eddy County Sheriff’s Office states the investigation remains ongoing, and anyone with information is urged to contact ECSO Detective Sergeant Robert Smith at 575-887-7551 or Eddy County Crime Stoppers anonymously.

While the victim’s family continues to mourn their loss, the two people accused in her death walk freely as they wait for their day in court in New Mexico, where the victims remains were hidden for nearly a year.

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