Two Clovis teens arrested in double homicide

Police say a Clovis teen enlisted at least one friend to shoot and kill his parents as they slept to steal their money. 

Darren Munoz, 19, is charged with two counts of murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder and one count of criminal solicitation to commit murder. Julio Zamora, 18, faces similar charges. 

The two were arrested and booked into Curry County Detention Center on Monday. 

Clovis police were dispatched to the 1000 block of York around 5 a.m. on Monday to investigate a possible burglary and found the garage to the home open, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in 9th Judicial District Court. Police made contact with Munoz shortly after.

Munoz told officers that everything was fine, and when police asked to speak with Munoz's parents, he said he didn't want them to go inside because his parents sleep naked before he eventually led them inside, according to the affidavit. 

Police said Munoz walked into his parent’s room and when he came out, his hands were covered in blood, according to the affidavit. Officers entered the room and discovered that Munoz's father, Oscar Munoz, 58, and stepmother, Dina Munoz, 71, had been shot. 

Dina Munoz died at the scene, and Oscar Munoz was taken to Plains Regional Medical Center in critical condition before being transferred to a Lubbock, Texas, hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Officers spoke with Munoz, who stated that he had spent the weekend alone at home while his parents were out of town in San Antonio celebrating their anniversary, according to the affidavit. 

Munoz told police his parents arrived back home and he went to bed around 9 p.m., when he was later awakened by his home’s security alarm to the garage door, according to the affidavit. 

“He would then lie to investigators about whether he called 911 or not,” the affidavit states. “However, 911 call logs would indicate (Munoz) had called and when confronted with this information, (Munoz) admitted he did in fact call 911, reporting the burglary.”

When officers asked Munoz why he didn't want police to enter the house, he said he had no idea what was going on, according to the affidavit. 

Police reported that it would not be feasible for Munoz to have heard the garage door alarm go off but not hear gunshots down the hall. Officers also saw no signs of forced entry into the home and did not see anything missing, the affidavit states. 

One of Munoz’s friends called police and told officers that there had “been a plan in place for several weeks or months between Munoz and two of his friends” to kill Munoz’s father, who owned an Allsup's convenience store franchise, in order to take his parents' money and belongings, according to the affidavit. 

The friend told police that Munoz and a few of his friends had also considered cutting his father’s brakes and that “he would die because he was fat,” the affidavit states.

The friend told police that Munoz traded a rifle for a ghost gun, which doesn't have a serial number and is difficult to trace, the night before the homicide. Another witness told police that Zamora had allegedly gone to purchase bullets “specifically to commit the homicide,” according to the affidavit.

A search warrant was issued for Munoz’s phone and officers found texts between him and Zamora, where Munoz had told Zamora that his parents were home, the affidavit states.

Police spoke with Zamora, who said that he killed Munoz's parents after being asked to do so. He was arrested with a gun in his possession, which he told police was the same gun he had used to shoot the Munoz family.