Overview
- Leroy Vallejos was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence and is being held without bail at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center, according to online jail records.
- Officers conducting a welfare check reported finding human remains in garbage bags inside a large freezer, which the medical investigator identified as 69-year-old Ernestina Lucero.
- Police say they recovered a saw with dried blood stains hidden under the kitchen sink during a subsequent search of the home.
- According to police and an affidavit, Vallejos confessed to strangling his mother and said he believed she was part of a group “giving their lives to darkness,” adding that her remains had been in the freezer for about three weeks.
- Investigators allege Vallejos withdrew cash using his mother's debit card, sold her car, and contacted her home health care provider to report her missing while seeking payment for her care.