Man charged in 2021 drug-related robbery turned homicide at Albuquerque hotel

In a case that bounced among homicide detectives for years, a Cedar Crest man is behind bars in the fatal shooting of another man at an Albuquerque motel.

Dylan Wolfe, 26, was charged June 14 with an open count of murder, robbery and tampering with evidence in the April 9, 2021, killing of 35-year-old Edward Purvis.

Wolfe was arrested on Friday and booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center. It is unclear if Wolfe has an attorney.

The case was initially left incomplete by a now-retired homicide detective before being sent to the cold case division, according to court records. It was taken on, and left unfinished, by two other detectives before being handed to another detective in March, who wrapped it up in months.

Purvis’ body was discovered three days after he was killed.

Officers responded around 8 a.m. to check on Purvis at his room at the Ramada hotel, near Interstate 40 and Eubank, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Purvis’ relative called police and told them she hadn’t heard from Purvis for several days.

Officers smelled “a foul odor” coming from the room and found Purvis dead inside from multiple gunshot wounds. Police found pillows pockmarked with bullet holes and fentanyl pills in the room.

Police said a food stamp card belonging to Wolfe was found on Purvis and phone records showed text messages between the two were the last Purvis made. The messages, sent in the early morning hours of April 9, showed Wolfe asked to meet with Purvis.

Purvis didn’t respond to any calls or messages afterward.

A man who had been in Purvis’ room hours earlier told police there was another man flashing a gun and “acting sketchy,” according to the complaint. A friend of Purvis’ told police Wolfe later bragged about killing him to a mutual acquaintance, saying he wasn’t worried about being caught “because too much time had passed.”

Police said Wolfe’s phone records showed he was in the area of the homicide in the hours detectives believe it occurred. A search of Wolfe’s Google account, showed that the day before Purvis’ death Wolfe Googled “can a pillow muffle a 9mm,” “how loud is a gunshot in a hotel?,” “what percentage of murders go unsolved?” and “what chance does a murder of a gang member solved?”

On April 20, almost two weeks after the homicide, Wolfe Googled “I need a new food stamp card,” according to the complaint.