Police records offer glimpse into attorney’s decline before triple homicide

Law school classmates called him shy and sweet.

His obituary described him as “a gifted academic and thoughtful soul.”

On an otherwise quiet Saturday morning in May, Andrew Bockemeier shot and killed his parents, Marcia and Stephen Bockemeier, 76 and 77, and his 48-year-old brother, Erik. He then set a portion of the family home on fire before killing himself outside of the New Mexico State Bar Association.

His parents were devout Christians who ministered at several churches in Albuquerque, while his brother, Erik Bockemeier, owned a local karaoke business and held several small acting roles in television shows like “Breaking Bad.”

After the shooting, former classmates, colleagues and Andrew Bockemeier’s only remaining brother were left to put together the pieces and reconcile the person they knew with his final acts.

Police reports obtained last week via an Inspection of Public Records Act request revealed that the 35-year-old former attorney grew increasingly erratic in the last year of his life, filing false and “malicious” reports with the Albuquerque Police Department and the state Children, Youth and Families Department.

Andrew Bockemeier accused his family members, colleagues and church leaders of sex crimes and attempted to blackmail his boss at the law firm where he worked, according to police records. He left threatening notes and emailed district judges with disparaging claims about other attorneys.

The records state that Bockemeier doubled down on accusations police said were unfounded and delivered a letter to his former boss demanding $465,000. That letter specified that Bockemeier believed he had evidence of crimes his boss had committed and would sue if he wasn’t compensated.

By that time, Bockemeier was no longer an attorney.

In June 2024, three years after passing the bar exam, Bockemeier’s law license was suspended due to unpaid fees to the state bar and failure to complete continuing education requirements. In the months to come, Bockemeier experienced what his brother Philip Bockemeier described in an online video as a “severe mental collapse.”

“I am a licensed mental health counselor and there is a hole inside of me that my brother wasn’t able to get the help that he desperately needed,” Philip Bockemeier, who lives in Florida, said in a YouTube video following the deaths of his immediate family.

Philip Bockemeier did not respond to a request for comment.

It’s unclear from police records and Philip Bockemeier’s statements what mental disorder Andrew Bockemeier may have suffered from, although both described his actions as irrational.

In police records, a former boss describes him as “a good man who sadly took a turn for the worse.”

Andrew Bockemeier lived alone in a Northeast Heights apartment, where police found four cellphones, ammunition and many handwritten notes, some of which had been burned.

In a video update published on YouTube last month, Philip Bockemeier read some of the notes found in his brother’s apartment.

“He dissociated from reality,” Philip Bockemeier said. “...He felt he was in a false reality he was attempting to break free or wake up from. Things like ‘That’s not your brother, your brother’s in the real world,’ ‘Don’t hate yourself Andrew, they tried to kill you.’”

It is unclear if Andrew Bockemeier ever sought mental health treatment and there are no court records to indicate that anyone tried to get him help.

In the wake of tragedy

Months after the shooting, in the church where both Marcia and Stephen Bockemeier were ministers a dimly lit library holds what remains of their belongings.

Paperbacks on philosophy, hardcovers on Christian theology and children’s books all crowd under makeshift labels on shelves and spill out of cardboard boxes in the hundreds.

Books of every genre, including antique and rare editions, were all a part of Stephen Bockemeier’s personal collection, said members of Heaven’s Door Ministries.

The books were nearly thrown away in the aftermath of the Bockemeiers’ deaths and the fire that ensued. That is until the church stepped in to help, members said.

Today, a selection of books sits on a black shelf adorned with white tulle bows below a metal plaque that reads “Bockemeier Library.”

“Steve and Marcia are deeply missed by all of us that knew and worked with them,” said Ed Cook, a friend of the couple, in a statement.

Lifelong ministers at several churches in Albuquerque, Cook said the couple dedicated their retirement years to providing street outreach for homeless people and those suffering from drug addiction in the International District.

Once a week the church opens its doors for service and also allows anyone to take what they want from the library.

Seeing people walk out the doors with arms full of the Bockemeiers’ books is a silver lining in an otherwise dark situation.

On Dec. 6, Full Throttle Ministry will host a book giving and sorting event in honor of the Bockemeiers at the Highland Baptist Church, friends said.

Philip Bockemeier is also looking for the light, hoping that telling his family’s story online will spur change in the mental health system that, he said, let his brother slip through the cracks.

“We need to do better,” Philip Bockemeier said in his video.