Inset: (Metropolitan Detention Center). Background: Police in Albuquerque, New Mexico, investigate after Vallejos allegedly killed his mother (KRQE).
Leroy Felix Vallejos, aged 49, is accused of murdering his 69-year-old mother, Ernestina Lucero, in Albuquerque, according to court documents. He faces charges of murder and tampering with evidence.
The disappearance of Lucero was reported by another family member on October 23. According to a criminal complaint obtained by CBS affiliate KRQE, Vallejos contacted his mother’s home health care service to request payment, despite having not seen her for over a week, raising suspicions.
Police conducted a welfare check at Lucero’s residence on the 300 block of Rhode Island Street NE. Vallejos, who also lived there, allowed officers inside, claiming his mother had gone on vacation to Mexico with her boyfriend. However, suspicions were heightened when her medication was found untouched in the bathroom.
Upon searching a large freezer, officers discovered garbage bags containing what appeared to be female human remains. Further investigation revealed blood stains beneath the sink. Vallejos was taken into custody, where he allegedly confessed to strangling his mother three weeks earlier. He purportedly accused her of conspiring against him with others, claiming she belonged to a “group of people giving their lives to darkness.”
Then, they looked inside a large freezer and found garbage bags. In those bags were suspected female human remains, cops say. A further search of the home reportedly yielded blood stains under the sink. Detectives took Vallejos into custody and in an interview he allegedly admitted to choking his mom to death some three weeks prior. He reportedly said Lucero was conspiring against him with others and she was part of a “group of people giving their lives to darkness.”
Cops determined Vallejos had allegedly withdrawn cash from his mother’s bank account and sold her car before she was reported missing.
Vallejos was arrested on Wednesday and is currently in the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center without bond.
