In a disturbing case out of New Mexico, authorities have arrested a man from Albuquerque, accusing him of the gruesome murder and partial dismemberment of his own mother.
Leroy Vallejos, aged 49, was taken into custody and booked into the Metro Detention Center on Wednesday. Vallejos reportedly admitted to the crime, confessing that he had strangled his mother, 69-year-old Ernestina Lucero, about three weeks before, according to KRQE.
The investigation was set in motion following a welfare check at Lucero’s home on Tuesday. The house, located near the intersection of Rhode Island and Copper NE in Albuquerque, became the focal point after Vallejos allegedly told a home health care worker that he hadn’t seen his mother in a week.
Further raising suspicions, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) reported that Vallejos had contacted the health care company seeking payment for Lucero’s care, despite claiming she was not present.
When APD officers arrived, Vallejos allowed them inside, claiming that his mother had traveled to Mexico. However, officers grew doubtful of his story upon discovering her prescription medications still in her bedroom.
As the search of the premises continued, police made a grim discovery. Inside a large freezer, they found garbage bags containing human remains. The Office of the Medical Investigator later verified that the remains belonged to a female, confirming the dire suspicions surrounding Lucero’s disappearance.
Following the initial discovery, investigators conducted a secondary search, during which they found a saw with dried bloodstains concealed beneath the sink.
According to the APD, Vallejos gave a disturbing rationale for the crime, claiming that Lucero was conspiring with other individuals against him. He reportedly asserted that his mother belonged to a “group of people giving their lives to darkness.”
“Leroy indicated that his mother, along with numerous other family members of his, was part of a group of ‘people giving their lives to darkness,’” the affidavit stated.
“Leroy believed he had discovered that he had been ‘promised to Satan’ by his mother based upon statements he had heard from other ‘witches’ combined with his own speculation.”
Prior to the welfare check, a different family member had already reported Lucero missing. APD had consequently issued a missing persons bulletin on October 23 and formally opened an investigation.
Detectives found that Vallejos reportedly used his mother’s debit card to withdraw cash, and her vehicle had been sold sometime before Lucero was officially reported as missing.
Leroy would have surrendered, but he “loved his dogs and did not want to be separated from them,” the affidavit says.
Vallejos was arrested for an open count of murder in the first degree, preventative detention, temporary detention with evidence, and battery charges, according to the arrest report.
On November 4, Vallejos is scheduled for a detention hearing, according to People Magazine.
[Feature Photo via Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center]
