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Deputies arrest suspect accused in fatal stabbing in Southwest Albuquerque
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A man has been arrested in a stabbing that left a man dead in front of a South Valley dollar store late last month.
Dominic Andrade, 49, is charged with an open count of murder and tampering with evidence. He was arrested Monday and booked into the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center.
Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched around 7:30 a.m. Sept. 29 to the Dollar Tree at 1511 Goff SW, near Isleta, after a woman reported a man lying dead in front of a store, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.
The woman told deputies the man, identified as Michael Chavez, would frequently sleep in front of the business and sometimes she would give him food, the complaint states. The woman told deputies Chavez was having problems with another homeless man who had been making threats toward Chavez.
Deputies obtained surveillance footage from a Dollar Tree in the shopping center and saw Andrade approach Chavez. Footage showed the men talking until Andrade picked up a large rock and threw it at Chavez, according to the complaint.
“He subsequently makes a jabbing motion at (Chavez’s) chest and neck area as if he is stabbing him,” the complaint states.
Footage showed Andrade use a rock to smash Chavez’s head before leaving. Chavez attempted to sit up, rolled around to lie down and did not move again, according to the complaint.
On Monday, a deputy was contacted by the U.S. Marshals Service after detectives saw Andrade near Old Town, the complaint states. Deputies detained Andrade and found a pocket knife with him, along with a tricycle that matched the one he was seen riding in video footage.
Andrade told deputies he had seen Chavez at the Dollar Tree on the night of his death but denied being involved in his death, according to the complaint.
