Murdered in 2019

Santa Fe police may not have spent the last week handling its 80th murder of the year like Albuquerque, but detectives in the City Different investigated more homicides in 2019 than than they have in the last nine years.

Crime reports show yearly homicides dropped significantly in 2011 after reaching a decade high with 13 in 2009. In 2016, the city had just one homicide, but that grew to four in 2017, five in 2018 and the seven this year, according to statistics provided to the FBI from the Santa Fe Police Department.

Of the reported homicides in the city, four resulted in arrest. One was a murder-suicide in a public place, and two remain active, unsolved cases with few leads for detectives.

Five of the victims were killed by gunshot wounds.

At least four of the seven people were killed by others they knew, two of them in domestic violence crimes, most well-known in the case of Ernestine Saucedo, who was murdered by her husband in a parked car.

Intimate partner violence is an epidemic in the state. The Legislative Finance Committee found in an October 2019 study that levels of domestic violence in New Mexico have not decreased, despite state funding.

Pam Wiseman, executive director of the New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence, attributes that, in part, to low conviction rates of abusers.

Preliminary data from a University of New Mexico study backs up that assessment; according to the coalition, 80% of domestic violence cases are dismissed by prosecutors. Money is also an issue, however. Programs for both victims and abusers are also chronically underfunded.

"Because CYFD's reimbursement for domestic violence services has not increased since 2008 (and some rates not since 1997) fewer clients were funded by CYFD over time," Children, Youth and Families Department Unit Manager David River said in a statement. "In addition, some programs ran out of CYFD funds mid-year and therefore stopped reporting the number of people served."

Crime overall has risen in Santa Fe. SFR previously reported that the violent crime rate for 2018 was 394 per 100,000 residents while the national average was 380. Violent crimes increased from 2017 to 2018 by 14% while property crimes jumped 6%.

During that same time period, the violent crime rate in Albuquerque also rose, though at a slower rate than previously.

Ricardo Magana

39 years old April 29 Lorca Drive

A little after midnight, police were dispatched for a domestic violence incident that turned deadly. Magana, holding a baseball bat, was coming toward his girlfriend. Her teenage son fired a warning shot from a gun, but when Magana didn’t stop, the juvenile shot Magana in the stomach in self-defense, according to police reports. He was charged as a juvenile in possession of a weapon but greater charges were dropped, because police said “he was trying to protect his mother.”

Ernestine Saucedo

32 years old July 11 Don Gaspar Avenue

Ernestine Saucedo and her husband, Jesse Saucedo, were found dead inside a car near the Jerry Apodaca Education building in a murder-suicide. Around 8 am, Jesse shot Ernestine in the torso several times before turning the gun on himself. She was a well-known performer under the name Ernestine Romero.

Mathew Corral

34 years old July 21 East De Vargas Street

Mathew Corral was found by passersby early in the morning in the street, face down and shot once in the chest. There are no suspects or arrests in the case, although it's still considered an active investigation. SFPD is concerned about the "safety" of potential witnesses in this case because "witnesses and others who have knowledge of an incident could be threatened if their names and personal information are released prior to the arrest of a suspect," SFPD spokesman Greg Gurulé tells SFR.

Rodrigo Enriquez-Garray

19 years old Sept. 7 Hopewell Street

Sixty-four-year-old Beverly Melendez shot her rifle across the arroyo into her neighbor's yard while they were having a party, striking Rodrigo Enrqiuez-Garray in the back. His family rushed him to the hospital, where he later died of his wounds. Melendez, charged with second-degree murder and two counts of negligent use of a deadly weapon, told officers she was irritated with the loud noise coming from the party on Hopewell Street. A pre-trial is set for February. Melendez is being held without bond.

Aaron Chapman

37 years old Sept. 15 West DeVargas Street

The case is active and unsolved. Chapman was found underneath the bridge at the West DeVargas Park with his head beaten in with rocks. Police tell SFR there are no arrests or suspects in this case, though they are also "concerned" about the safety of potential witnesses, according to Gurulé.

Robert Barela

51 years old Nov. 18 Lopez Street

Police say around 8:22 pm, a female, likely the victim's girlfriend, called the police to report that Robert Barela had been stabbed by 61-year-old Jonathan Kelly. Kelly is charged with second-degree murder in First Judicial District Court. A jury selection hearing won't be held until June. City officials discussed whether the location could be declared a "nuisance" due to frequent reports of crime.

Daniel Gisler

20 years old

Police say the murder took place around Nov. 19, but the body was not found until Dec. 6, when law enforcement located his body buried in an open field on the Southside. James Garcia, 26, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and tampering with evidence, allegedly for killing Gisler over a drug deal. Records in the case are sealed.

Editor’s note: SFR removed the name of a domestic violence victim from this story post publication.