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The Albuquerque Police Department is looking for a 20-year-old murder suspect who they say cut off his GPS ankle monitor over the weekend.
Yonnis Abreu is charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Dylan Spiess at the American Inn and Suites on Central, near Louisiana, in March 2021. Detectives say surveillance footage shows a man with distinctive tattoos and dyed blond hair – whom they identified as Abreu – running from the scene.
“He was arrested in July 2021, and had been in jail pending trial,” said Rebecca Atkins, an APD spokeswoman. “However, he was released from jail in June 2022 after a judge agreed to reconsider his detention. He was released on several conditions, including a GPS ankle monitor and a strict curfew.”
She said APD was notified on Sunday that Abreu had cut off his ankle monitor and detectives have been unsuccessful in locating him.
According to court documents, on July 30 Abreu’s GPS unit sent out a “failed to enter inclusion zone” alert around 9:30 p.m. Less than an hour later a tracker strap tamper alert was sent out, which is “usually indicative of a GPS unit being cut off,” according to the request for a bench warrant.
Maxwell Pines, Abreu’s defense attorney, said he can’t speak to why pre-trial detention officials cannot contact his client right now but said he’s trying to get back in touch with him “to make sure he can stay in good standing with the court and make sure he is doing everything he has to under conditions of release.”
He said the evidence against Abreu, who speaks limited English, in the case is rather weak.
Pines had filed a motion in April alleging that Abreu was illegally detained on June 30, 2021, and officers had insufficient justification to hold him under the Fourth Amendment. According to the motion, he had been detained for more than five hours before detectives got an arrest warrant.
Pines said Abreu had attended a virtual hearing on that matter in his office. That hearing was continued.
Abreu spent almost a year in jail – much of it in lockdown due to understaffing at the facility.
“He spent more than 5% of his life in MDC pretrial,” Pines said. “I’m not a doctor, I’m not a psychologist, but I know that has an affect on people.”
Detectives ask anyone with information about Yonnis Abreu’s whereabouts to call 505-242-COPS.
