My name is Susan LaBelle, I am Julia Zufelt’s grandmother and Nyquoa Zufelt-Gurule’s great grandmother. I helped deliver Nyquoa at Banner Hospital on 10/22/2019. I am a contract specialist in healthcare and previously a middle school teacher in the State of Arizona.
My granddaughter left the state of Arizona on 11/1/2020 with Nyquoa and her boyfriend, Mario Gurule, for Colorado to visit and see if this might be a better fit for the family to relocate to “after” their new, unborn baby was delivered in April 2021.
On Wednesday, 11/4/2020, I received a call from my granddaughter Julia, crying her eyes out because she wanted to leave and Mario Gurule would not allow this to happen. While on the phone I could hear her begging to hold her baby and he would not allow that, his mother was in the background yelling nasty comments about Julia. I then told Mario that his mother needed to stay out of this discussion as I could hear her in the background. Julia contacted the police to come and help her leave with the child. Since it was cold, she decided that it was better to leave Nyquoa, the baby, inside so that he remained warm and protected from the cold. When the police came they told her that they could not allow her to take the baby because he was inside with his father and that his father now had parental rights to the child. She did not want to leave the baby so she decided to stay in the home.
About 30 minutes later, Julia called me back crying profusely because Mario wanted her out and called the police stating that he told the police that she was hitting him. She begged to hold the baby and he would not let her. When the police arrived, she remained on the phone with me, I could hear the entire conversation, she just kept crying. The police advised her to leave the home to let things settle so we had to find her a safe place to stay for the night at a nearby hotel. Police allowed her to gather her things, which wasn't much since she wasn’t planning on being there indefinitely, and took her to the hotel to stay. She had no money, her clothes were wet because she had washed them and not been able to dry them, and had no charger for her phone to contact us in Arizona, he kept that.
My daughter, my 8-year old grandson and I left Arizona at 4am the next morning and drove to Grand Junction, CO, picked Julia up at the hotel and took her immediately to the courthouse. We had in hand the court documents from Mr. Gurule’s sexual abuse charges on his daughter from Arizona and a description of other domestic disputes in the State of Arizona where he fled before the police arrived in each case. The judge issued an order of protection and custody after reviewing the information presented and told us to take it to the Sheriff's department in the morning to have him served.
We arrived at the Sheriff's office at 8:15 am and instead of sending someone to the house to serve and get the child, they sent the officer to evic adults (guess they got paid for each of these) and when the officer finally went to serve Mario, Nyquoa's father, his mother said he was gone so the officer told her why he was there and left. You would think an order of protection for a child would supercede evicting people, not in Grand Junction, CO.
Until this happened, I truly thought that Mario was a good person, but now that I am fully aware of the court case here in Arizona with his daughter, the criminal activity in his history and the manner in which he and his family have behaved with their lies and deception to the court and police force, I feel that he is not a fit parent or role model for his son Nyquoa and I fear for Nyquoa’s welfare.
My granddaughter is a wonderful mother and we all love Nyquoa dearly. Julia and Nyquoa were living with my daughter and husband and well-cared for in Arizona. When Mr. Gurule and Julia ended their lease at the Apartment where they residedin Mesa, AZ on 9/30/2020, the plan was for them to come stay with Julia’s mother and step father until they found a place suitable for them to live and afford. Mr. Gurule did not want to stay there, stating he was unwelcome (not true) and making delusional accusations towards Julia and our entire family. Julia convinced him to come and stay and it worked for a few days, then a situation arose that made him leave and stay away for almost 3 weeks, blocking family, threatening family members for no reason and acting very scary. He placed their personal belongings in a storage unit with only his name and the unit will not let Julia access. If the law can't intervene here, we will need to repurchase the baby crib, pack n play, stroller, additional clothing for baby and Julia and the memorabilia Julia kept of pictures, special gifts and her father's ashes will be lost and thrown out.
The funds will be used to pay legal fees, hotel costs, food and personal expenses for Julia, Lea and Alex to remain in Grand Junction, CO. Julia will not leave without her baby boy. Grand Junction needs to issue some type of reprimand for Mario and his family for these actions and for what they've put our family through to give the baby back to his mother, Julia. Please help us get Julia, Nyquoa, Lea and Alex back home to Arizona safely. Your prayers and support are greatly appreciated.
