Charges filed against brother of teen killed in University of New Mexico dorm

The body of Michael LaMotte was slumped over a chair inside a dorm at the University of New Mexico. The 14-year-old had been shot in the head minutes earlier and left for dead.

But then his brother Zion Miera and Daniel Archuleta — who fled when the gunfire erupted — returned.

The young men rummaged through the room as a pool of blood formed beneath LaMotte, according to recently filed court records. They did not call 911 or try to help the teen and left within minutes, taking guns and a large amount of cocaine.

It would be hours before UNM police entered the Casas del Rio dorm room and found LaMotte’s body surrounded by ammunition, a variety of drugs and cash. The delay, according to New Mexico State Police, was compounded by Miera and Archuleta’s agreement to keep quiet.

Miera and Archuleta, both 19, are each charged with tampering with evidence, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and drug possession.

Miera was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on Thursday. A warrant has been issued for Archuleta’s arrest. It is unclear if Miera or Archuleta has an attorney.

Prosecutors filed a motion Friday to keep Miera behind bars until trial, stating he “made more effort to recover contraband, and avoid investigation for the murder, than he did to help LaMotte.”

John Fuentes, the alleged shooter, was arrested soon after the July 25 killing and is awaiting trial on an open count of murder and lesser felonies.

An arrest warrant affidavit filed in Metropolitan Court further alleged that for months Miera had been supplying LaMotte with drugs to sell to his classmates and the pair would often “split the profits.”

State Police said in the weeks before the shooting, Miera began talking about selling and trading guns with LaMotte. LaMotte’s mother told police she knew Miera kept multiple guns in his younger brother’s room.

An attorney for the LaMotte family did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Investigators searched Miera and LaMotte’s phones and found videos and photos of the group showing off guns in Archuleta’s dorm prior to the shooting, including a photo in which LaMotte was smoking cannabis “and playing with at least six different firearms.”

In the wake of the shooting, UNM police were criticized for their slow response times and lack of details on the investigation. In late August, UNM police released statements distancing itself from the outcome, saying LaMotte died almost instantly and that Miera and Archuleta never called 911 or alerted police.

The incident also spurred UNM to approve over $2 million in security upgrades, to be used to update the campus-wide alarm system. UNM President Garnett Stokes said the university would ask the Legislature for an additional $5 million to redesign high-traffic areas, introduce more key card entries and build security gates.

The court records filed in the cases against Miera and Archuleta paint the clearest picture yet of how the night unfolded from the young men’s point of view.

On July 24, around 10:15 p.m., Miera drove LaMotte from their Rio Rancho home to the campus, where they went to Archuleta’s dorm room with Fuentes, according to the affidavit. Through later interviews, police learned Fuentes and Archuleta took LSD and did cocaine with Miera while LaMotte smoked cannabis.

As the group played video games and watched TV, the affidavit states, Archuleta “pressured others to snort line after line” of cocaine.

“While drinking and consuming the drugs, they passed around and played with two loaded stolen pistols,” according to the affidavit. Police said the guns were brought to the dorm by Archuleta and Miera.

The affidavit states around 12:05 a.m., and without apparent warning, Fuentes shot LaMotte in the head and opened fire on Miera and Archuleta, grazing the latter. Miera and Archuleta initially hid under a bed and Fuentes fled the room before the pair followed suit.

Surveillance video showed Miera and Archuleta pacing outside the dormitory “appearing to debate what to do” before returning to the room less than 20 minutes later, according to the affidavit. When they left the room a second time, police said the pair were holding a bag and a backpack believed to contain drugs and guns.

Neither called 911 and Miera’s mother eventually took them to the hospital and they told authorities they were unaware if anyone was shot. The affidavit states messages between the two showed Archuleta told Miera “not to speak to the police.”

When UNM police officers made entry into the dorm around 3 a.m., they found LaMotte dead, with a box of ammunition, alcohol, cannabis, LSD and cocaine nearby, according to the complaint. More than $3,500 was found in a dresser drawer.

A search of messages between Archuleta, Fuentes and Miera turned up photos and videos of the group showing off multiple weapons, including some that were fully automatic. On LaMotte’s phone, detectives found photos and videos from July 19, taken in Archuleta’s dorm room.

In one of the photos, LaMotte was seen smoking cannabis and playing with a Glock 19 9mm pistol. Police said the handgun was the one that, six days later, would be used to kill him.