Man pleads guilty in 2021 shooting death of 23-year-old Albuquerque woman

A man pleaded guilty last week to three felonies in the 2021 fatal shooting of 23-year-old Johanna Montoya during an a robbery in Northwest Albuquerque.

Jaylen Quinones, 22, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder, armed robbery and tampering with evidence and faces 18 to 24 years in prison. His sentencing hearing before 2nd Judicial District Judge Lucy Solimon has not been scheduled.

Albuquerque police responded to a reported crash on Jan. 17, 2021, in the 2400 block of Rice NW, near Indian School and Rio Grande, and found Montoya dead on the road near her home. She had been shot in the head and run over by a vehicle, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Police found that Montoya was holding cash in one hand and a bag containing a white substance in the other, the complaint said. A video recording from a neighbor’s security camera showed that Montoya had been pushed out of a car that drove from the scene.

Investigators identified Quinones as a suspect based on Snapchat messages between him and Montoya, the complaint said.

On Montoya’s phone, detectives found Snapchat messages in which Quinones had asked to buy cocaine from Montoya, who directed Quinones to her house, the complaint said. Quinones’ Snapchat account placed his GPS location at the scene of Montoya’s death.

Around the same time, Quinones sent a Snapchat message to another person suggesting he planned to rob someone.

Two days after Montoya’s death, police found Quinones’ car set on fire near Balloon Fiesta Park with a bullet lodged in the passenger door and blood in the interior, the complaint said.

Quinones was indicted on May 10, 2021, and arrested the same day.