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Posted inCourts, Justice & Safety, Housing & Homelessness

A killer confesses: what happens to those left behind?

This report is the second of a two-part series by City Desk’s Elise Kaplan and Bethany Raja. To read more about the court hearing and Apodaca’s plea, find part one here. (c) City Desk ABQ. Republish our stories with permission from editor@abq.news One night in 1988, 13-year-old Stella Gonzales—a bubbly 5th grader at Washington Middle […]

Posted inCourts, Justice & Safety, Housing & Homelessness

APD brings in civilian investigators to solve orphaned homicides

Help for several cold cases is on the horizon for the Albuquerque Police Department. In a press conference on Jan. 25, APD brass updated the department’s progress with orphaned and departed homicide cases due to bringing in civilian investigators and a new homicide digital library.  “I think that we found a formula for going forward […]

Posted inHousing & Homelessness, New Mexico State Gov.

Lawmakers want attorney general to create new task force on missing and murdered Indigenous people

By Bella Davis/NM In Depth Five New Mexico lawmakers want the state attorney general to establish a task force focused on missing and murdered Indigenous people.  They’ve made the request via Senate Joint Memorial 2, which they introduced this week. The memorial puts on display the disagreement some lawmakers have with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s quiet shuttering last year of […]

Posted inCourts, Justice & Safety, Housing & Homelessness

Four members of APD DWI unit added to DA’s list of untrustworthy officers 

Four names were just added to the Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office list of officers who have credibility issues—colloquially referred to as a Giglio disclosure. They are Honorio Alba, Joshua Montano, Nelson Ortiz and Harvey Johnson and their names appear over and over as the arresting officers in the list of more than 150 DWI […]

Posted inCourts, Justice & Safety, Housing & Homelessness

APD Chief addresses federal investigation into DWI officers

Five days after federal authorities searched the homes of Albuquerque Police Department officers and the office of a local defense attorney, department leadership provided additional details about the case and announced that it has launched an administrative investigation into the officers.  None of the officers have been charged with a crime “at this point in […]

APD comes under fire at City Council meeting

Allegations of unchecked corruption, lack of leadership, lack of communication and a call for accountability dominated the Albuquerque City Council meeting Monday. Councilors had sharp words for leaders of the Police Department and Mayor Tim Keller after recent FBI raids on the homes of police officers as part of a federal investigation. The investigation led […]

Posted inCourts, Justice & Safety, Housing & Homelessness, Local Gov.

How a cry for food sparked Christmas Day trouble in New Mexico’s largest jail for kids

By Joshua Bowling/Searchlight New Mexico The sun was setting as parents waited for the Christmas Day call from their incarcerated children, unaware of the fraught situation that had broken out hours earlier: a so-called “riot” at New Mexico’s largest jail for kids. The news media were depicting a violent uprising inside the Bernalillo County Youth […]