Copyright © 2022 Albuquerque Journal
Detectives have released the names of several people killed over the past month in separate incidents across Albuquerque.
Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman, identified the deceased as Michael Sanchez, 38; Emilio Gonzales, 28; Christopher Pino, 32; David Brown, 33; Casey Valdez, 31; Nicholas “Nikki” Turrietta, 31; and Rochelle Dedman, 36.
Only the Dec. 9 killing of Sanchez has resulted in an arrest.
Police say just before midnight Sanchez, a homeless man, was shot by Patrick Saavedra, 38, in Downtown Albuquerque during an altercation between Saavedra and security guards. Saavedra is currently behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
• On Dec. 20, officers found Gonzales fatally shot in the 200 block of 63rd NW, near Coors and Central. He later died at the hospital.
• On Dec. 23, police found Pino shot to death at the Bluewater Village apartment complex, just north of Central and Coors NW.
Pino’s mother, Jacklyn Pino, said her son was “always there for everybody” and always had a smile, displayed in every picture she had of him.
“This is like a different hurt for a mother, it’s much stronger,” she said. “The whole family is torn up.”
At the time of his death Christopher Pino, one of four siblings, was opening a business in Rio Rancho with his father to help rescue people who get stuck while four-wheeling.
• On Dec. 24, officers found Brown dead inside a vehicle in the 530 block of Ortiz SE, near Zuni and San Mateo.
His mother, Dustie Brown, said she has been overtaken by grief ever since.
“It’s kind of surreal,” she said. “He just loved everybody, big heart, he was just always trying to help people.”
Dustie Brown said her son was known as “computer Dave” for his skills designing websites. She said he was highly intelligent and handsome “as all get-out.”
“It’s kind of surreal,” she said. “He just loved everybody, big heart, he was just always trying to help people.”
Dustie Brown said she hopes someone will come forward with information to help solve her son’s homicide.
• On Dec. 30, police found Valdez fatally shot at a home in the 2500 block of Los Compadres NW, and detained the shooter, a woman. Police spokesman Gallegos said detectives have not filed charges against the woman and are working with the District Attorney’s Office on the case.
• On Dec. 31, officers found Turrietta — a transgender woman who went by “Nikki” — inside a home near Mountain and Broadway NE after friends reported seeing her unconscious through the window. Police initially believed Turrietta died from an overdose but an autopsy found a gunshot wound under her hair.
• Then, on Sunday, officers found Dedman’s body inside the apartment of an acquaintance at the Dorado Apartments, near Montgomery and Juan Tabo NE.
Police say the acquaintance had called 911 and investigators “observed details” that made them think her death was a homicide.
