Matthew Jaramillo, 14, told detectives he was driving a stolen car when he picked up a prostitute and parked in an apartment complex lot off east Central.
When a man told him to leave the parking lot, he told police he ran over him several times, dragging him to his death.
Detectives arrested the teenager Wednesday. He is being charged with an open count of murder, unlawful taking of a motor vehicle and tampering with evidence.
Jaramillo told detectives that he was driving in a stolen purplish-black Mazda SUV on May 20 when he picked up a prostitute and drove to a parking lot on the 200 block of Virginia NE, according to a statement of probable cause filed in Children’s Court.
He said a man, later identified as 46-year-old Richard Sisneros, began yelling at him to get out of the parking lot and stood in front of his car.
“Matthew stated, after asking the male to move, the male remained in front of the vehicle so Matthew ran the male over,” the detective wrote in the statement. “Matthew admitted to dragging the male down the street trying to detach the male from his vehicle.”
Several witnesses told police they saw the car drive back and forth over Sisneros multiple times, according to the statement. They said they heard a woman screaming inside the SUV. There’s no further mention of the woman after that.
Sisneros was taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital in critical condition, police say. He died the next day.
“He wasn’t even legally allowed to drive yet,” said officer Tanner Tixier, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department. “It is disconcerting that a 14-year-old is picking up a hooker in a stolen car and killing people.”
Jaramillo told detectives that he left the stolen SUV at General Arnold and Central SE and that, when he went back later to get it, it was gone. Police are still looking for it.
Sisneros had lived in the apartment complex with his wife and three daughters, ages 18 to 21, for the past 10 months. Neighbors said they frequently saw him sitting on the balcony looking out at the parking lot.
“A lot of people come here to do drug deals, or with prostitutes, and stolen vehicles are parked here,” Rae Tillotson said about the parking lot. “That’s what he had seen that day, and he was trying to tell them that they can’t park the vehicle there.”
Tillotson said she went outside as soon as she heard that Sisneros had been run over. She said she saw a trail of flesh and blood leading away from the parking lot to where Sisneros was lying on the corner of Virginia and Chico NE.
It’s not the first time Jaramillo has been in trouble with the law, according to court records.
He was charged with aggravated battery in July, and assault and battery a couple of months later, according to documents filed in Children’s Court. He was arrested in late March and charged with the unlawful taking of a motor vehicle.
He was recently released to the custody of his mother and ordered to attend school, undertake random drug tests and wear a GPS, according to an order of release filed on May 3.
Jaramillo is being held in the Juvenile Detention Center on a $75,000 cash-only bond.
