Trial begins in crash that killed two teenage girls

Jurors in the trial of a man facing a pair of murder charges in the deaths of two 14-year-old girls were offered differing accounts Monday of the 2022 collision that took their lives.

Roger Wilson, 28, faces two counts of first-degree murder in the July 29, 2022, deaths of the girls, who were thrown from a car following a high-speed collision.

Prosecutors allege Wilson used a stolen car as a weapon by intentionally ramming a blue Hyundai occupied by four people following an alcohol-fueled argument at Pat Hurley Park on Albuquerque’s West Side.

Wilson pursued the Hyundai at high speed east on Central Avenue and forced it off the road at Tingley and Central, a prosecutor said in opening statements.

The car rolled into a parking lot at The Beach apartment, 2525 Tingley Drive, killing Alyssa Salazar and Alize Henson, both 14, and seriously injuring their two male companions, then ages 16 and 21.

Wilson also faces two counts of great bodily harm by vehicle, driving while intoxicated, for injuries of the Hyundai’s driver, Zabihollah Yaqubi, also called “Sam,” and passenger Horacio Cordova.

The 2nd Judicial District Court trial is expected to continue through Jan. 15 before District Judge Brett Loveless.

Wilson’s attorney, Stefanie Gulley, said in opening statements that Yaqubi caused the collision when he attempted to cut off the silver Honda that Wilson was driving.

“What the state’s own witness will say is that Sam in his Hyundai cut my client off,” Gulley said. “Sam loses control of the vehicle, causing him to flip and roll.”

Gulley told jurors her account is based on a police officer’s reconstruction of the collision drawn from traffic video.

“The question is going to be who caused the accident, how the accident occurred and who is responsible for the two deaths,” Gulley said.

Gulley also said Wilson became angry because he was beaten by Yaqubi and Cordova at Pat Hurley Park and followed them to learn their identities.

“He’s trying to figure out who these people are,” she said. “He wants to go to the police.”

Prosecutor Guinevere Ice told jurors that Wilson became angry during “heated exchange” at Pat Hurley Park, after he began talking with the two girls.

“At some point, he became upset and irate,” Ice told jurors. Yaqubi, Cordova and the girls “decided they didn’t want any part of this situation” and drove away from the park, she said.

Wilson then stole a car from a companion and began to pursue Yaqubi’s car, Ice told jurors. When the two cars stopped at a red light, Wilson bumped Yaqubi’s car several times, she said.

Yaqubi ran the red light and sped east on Central attempting to get away from Wilson, who pulled up in a bus lane and struck Yaqubi’s car.

Wilson continued driving east on Central after the collision but crashed into a tree near Central and Rio Grande, then ran from the scene, Ice said.