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Man accused of fatally stabbing neighbor during argument over stolen Harley in NW ABQ
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A man allegedly stabbed a neighbor to death during a fight outside a Northwest Albuquerque apartment Tuesday.
Clay Sanchez, 59, of Albuquerque is charged with an open count of murder and tampering with evidence in the fatal stabbing of Andrew Mazetta, 56. Sanchez is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
At 6:14 p.m., the Albuquerque Police Department received a call of a stabbing in the 1400 block of Seventh NW, near Bellamah, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. When officers arrived, Mazetta’s sister told police someone stole his Harley-Davidson and officers saw Mazetta lying on the ground.
Police found Sanchez in a nearby apartment covered in blood, the complaint states. A neighbor told police they heard “scuffling” behind his apartment before seeing Sanchez and Mazetta fighting.
As he separated the men, the neighbor told police he saw Mazetta bleeding and Sanchez holding a kitchen knife, according to the complaint. Inside Sanchez’s apartment, police found a kitchen knife with a clean blade and blood on the handle, and a paper towel with dried blood.
Sanchez told police he was unlocking his door and had a knife on him when Mazetta came and asked if he stole his Harley, police said. Sanchez told police Mazetta hit him and as they exchanged punches, “he (expletive) got cut, I guess.”
Sanchez told police, “That’s what happened. It was an accident,” according to the complaint.
