It's been a rough two weeks, man. Sorry about that. I've been What's been going on? I don't know. Mom's missing, man. With college, work, I've been over stressed, tired, you know what I mean? This man and might sound abnormal, but once the reality comes through, even seasoned officers are left unsettled. That will haunt the neighborhood for years to come. What's up, Austin? I'm going to freeze in here. It begins on October 17th, 2025, when a 911 call is placed on the Albuquerque Police Department. The caller, Dominico Lucero, reports her 69-year-old aunt, Ernestina Lucero, missing. She states that Ernestina had been living with her son, 49-year-old Leroy Vallejos, on Rhode Island Street in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At first, nothing about it seems unusual, but something about the timeline doesn't quite sit right. Albuquerque Police Department 417, how can I help you? Hi, um, I need to file a missing person's report, please. Okay, on who? Um, she's my aunt. They're in Albuquerque. Um, we've been trying to call you guys all day to get a cop out there because she's been missing for over a week, and we can't get anybody there. >> Something's going on. Something happened. You call, they don't show up at work, too. Like, she hasn't been to work in over 8 days. It's just weird. Got it. And she's not answering anybody's calls. My cousin is there. He lives with her. He claims he saw her last night, and that he's been trying to call her, too, but it just doesn't I don't Sorry, what was that? His stories are all over the place. There's so many weird stories, and it's not matching up. It's actually real scary, though. Okay. It starts to raise questions. Leroy has been telling people Ernestina left for Mexico with a new boyfriend, but no one can name him, and the trip cannot be verified. then another detail emerges. Leroy is her paid caregiver. He contacts her caregiving company, says she's been missing for over a week, and still asks to collect her payments. Things take another turn when Leroy does something even more questionable, and once again, it leads back to Dominika calling the police. My cousin who who lives with her, his mom, he's he's been texting me asking me if I want the car to go get it. He just picked it up from the auction because they didn't want to buy it from him. And he's been trying to get rid of the car for over a week now. We just found that out today, and we still can't find his mom. And that's his mother's car. But he's been trying very hard since he picked up that car today to to sell it or get new plates because maybe he's trying to leave. I don't know what [clears throat] happened, but we think he hurt his mom. On October 28th, 2026, officers are finally sent to Ernestina's apartment for a welfare check. But what they find there doesn't give answers, only more questions. Before anything else, the officers approach the neighbors. You haven't seen You haven't seen her Charger here at all? No, sorry. He sold it? Yeah. He sold the car. He asked us if we wanted to buy it. And this was right after she was gone. I didn't know what I don't know what's going on. So, he had like She left and kept coming over asking my husband if we wanted to hang out. Uh kept asking him if he wanted to hang out now he was lonely since his mom had left. Um we had asked him like where'd she go, and he's like she went to Mexico. Uh he he was saying a bunch of things about her leaving to Mexico with her boyfriend. Um and that they were on a speaking basis right now. And then a couple days later he came and knocked, and he's like, "Hey Brian, any chance do you want to buy my car? I'm trying to make money for rent." That's what he said. How long ago was that? Like like 2 weeks ago. You haven't seen her in a couple weeks? Yeah, I know my brother I know my brother asked him like where your mom at cuz we haven't seen her in a while and he like stuttered and he just went silent. He came over here all mad because he said TNT. He said why is TNT saying that you guys told him that his mom and I was like first of all we didn't say nothing. I was like he came over knocking on our door and asked me like some Yeah a lady in the red truck has come over here and asked us yeah she's been over here asking where her niece is at and where her mom is at. He's been selling all her stuff he said. Yeah. It was a Camaro Charger I can't remember it was black. They were fighting before she left. They were fighting before she's left. I know there was a couple nights where they were going at it. I have a two year old and I've asked them to you know just take it down a little bit. And he's he's threatened to fight him because we've asked him to take it down. He's like yeah I'm homie. He said he's threatening us. >> [laughter] >> What's she look like? He's Mexican he's kind of bald. He's got a little bit of hair. No no facial hair. Tattoos all over her skin. >> [laughter] >> You heard them arguing about a couple nights before. Yeah before she left. Yeah she's been gone for at least like at least a month and a half now. With what's gathered from the neighbors something feels off. The pieces don't quite fit and the question lingers. What is really going on? She said she would give her rides this like the older lady would give her rides cuz she had a car or her car got towed by the by the apartment. Yeah she said like >> all of a sudden like a month and a half ago this guy started throwing away all her stuff. Without wasting more time, officers move in to speak with Leroy, and it doesn't take long for the interaction to turn unsettling. Yeah. Come on. He's coming to the front door. Open up. Sorry, man. I thought you were someone else, dude. Can I have my 75 bucks real quick? Yeah, yeah. No problem. Can I step in and talk to you? Oh, yeah, yeah. Come in. Just keep that [ __ ] down. Yeah, they bite. I mean, they bark, they don't bite, man. Okay. Yeah, you Can I shut the door so they don't run out? Uh my partner's coming in, too. Okay. >> Yeah. But >> Yeah, man. I thought you were this lady uh bagging on the door. My bad. I was sleeping, dude. Okay. It's been a rough two weeks, man. Sorry about that. I've been What's been going on? I don't know. Mom's missing, man. With college, work, I've been overstressed, tired, you know what I mean? 82360. some rest, man. Okay. Exhausted from worrying, you know what I mean? How long have you How long have you been here? How long have you been 15 or something. >> 15? Yeah. Uh maybe around that time, you know? It's been a while, man. No, no. >> October? This month? This month, yeah. Yeah, you come in. You're good. I didn't know it was you guys, man. I would have jumped up. You know, I was trying to get some rest. Let's go. 400. No, I don't need to look around. Go ahead. Do what you got to do. I thought you were some lady, dude. Sorry, man. What's up? I thought you were some lady with a thing on the door. You're all crazy. Okay. Like I was telling your partner, I've just been through college, work, but over-worrying, man. I've been tired, you know? What do you mean? You just want to talk to him in the morning? >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. No problem. Yeah, the dogs just bark and bite, man. Okay. After a quick sweep of the house, officers try to have a more direct approach with Leroy, but they are shocked to see Leroy's behavior is noticeably contradicting his own accusations. The gaps are beginning to show, and things are starting to make sense. So, we've got an appointment >> an appointment with the detective tomorrow to Who is detective? Speaks. Stinks? Yeah, I'm going to talk to him. Okay. But, I let you guys come every time you come, you know what I mean? Ask me questions. I'm trying to help, too, man. All righty. And yeah, the reason why we're here is cuz family is concerned and saying that they've been trying to reach out to you. They've just kind of been I got all the calls, man. I'll show you the text messages, everything, man. I've never ignored none of them. You sure? Okay. All right, then. >> I don't know why they Okay, I'm going to tell you like my mom had a some dude trying to get at me or something. And uh but I never came at her the same way. What do you mean? She's been drinking at you? >> use that harass things and stuff. But, uh I've never went at her like that, you know what I mean? So, uh they know what she's capable of. So, they're afraid of me doing it, I guess is why they're thinking it, you know what I mean? But, I've been Dude, this has been going on for years, you know what I mean? And I've never once raised a hand to her. You know, this last time I just told her, "You know, I'm just tired of your lies. I don't believe you, man. I don't even think we should be around each other. It disgusts me cuz we used to be close." >> Uh-huh. And you know, I feel bad just for saying that, but that's as far as it goes, man, you know what I mean? Okay. But, uh I think they're worried about cuz they know what she's capable of, and they don't know what I You know, they think that I might That's way off, man. Uh-huh. You know, this has been going on for 17 years, bro. I'm sure. Okay. >> So, uh yeah, like I said, I got an appointment with you guys tomorrow. Okay. And I'm trying to help, man. I don't know how they just paint me out to be the bad guy cuz I unfortunately we live together. You know, she's a grown woman. She sees some dude, Jose. I don't get in her business, dude, you know? Whatever she don't tell me, I don't ask, you know? You know, we weren't always like that. And I'm sorry it is the way it is, but if I would've known, I would've paid more attention, asked more questions, you know what I mean? >> Mhm. It's just where we were, man, at that time. Okay. But uh yeah, I answer all their calls. You can check my phone, man. Is she I reply to all of them, dude. >> Yeah. Is it Dominica? Is she the one? Um I'm not sure. I just saw that we've got a call request in for a welfare check. >> I don't I don't mind like, oh, I guess they'll take it to the room, but her friend comes in and she's like, oh, yeah, I I'm handing out flyers. She's got three, dude. And she sticks one in my door, one in my car, and one on the mailboxes here. You know, you just wake Tell me you're going to do it and I'll make some coffees, we'll go do it together, you know? She's like, I don't know, man. It just seems like they're aiming at me for Okay. for something, man. I haven't been in trouble with the law since I got out of prison. I'm in college, man. 4.0 student president's list. It's eerie how Leroy keeps talking about his relationship with his mother, but there's no stress, no worry in his voice about her being missing. Whatever the truth is, it is about to come into light when another officer checks his house while he's being interviewed. And what he finds there is the stuff of nightmares. by the bridge, you know? There's like rats living at the bottom. I don't want that piece, you know what I mean? Oh, yeah, I got you. You can see what the rats are They got You want her to You want her Nah, she was you Well, I thought she was getting at You know what I mean? But, uh Yeah, but what's what she comes to But, that's how he said that up. You know what I She's not cheating on me now. She's been gone since uh All right. But, it wouldn't have been the first week, like Uh week after 15th to 17th. What's up, Boston? Let's step outside. Go and put your hands behind your back. All right. She's in the freezer. All the dots start connecting. Ernestina's remains are found inside Leroy's freezer under the kitchen sink. The saw used to partially dismember her is also recovered, still unwashed. There's no time to process it. Leroy is arrested on the spot. Even the officers who've seen it all are left shaken by the gruesome sight inside that house. Babe, she's in the [ __ ] freezer. She's wrapped up in a in a trash bag. But, it's clearly a body. With her head back. Let me uh Okay, let me call dispatch. It's 31 right off the bat, so Uh >> he hasn't seen her in a couple weeks. Neighbors are like, "No, it's been like a month and a half." He sold her car. He started selling her belongings. Regardless, Leroy is brought in the next day for a formal interview. And what he goes on to say turns into one of the coldest, most unsettling conversations the officers have had. You know, there's a little story there. I'm not going to tell you what it is. I'm not going to care anyways, but No, I care deeply about this. >> I uh I know you care about the story, but not about the stuff I went through to get there, but Well, that's part of the story. That's the whole point, man. Why don't you tell me about the stuff you went through? >> really care for those dogs, man. And my mom, she just she's something else, man. I just I wish I wouldn't have snapped, but dealt with it for years and years and years and years. I should just sucked it up again. But I didn't, man. You know. You backed me into a corner, didn't you? I'm sorry. Just stop, man. Come drive me back. What action into the corner? Oops. Same old [ __ ] What we did never changed me. What were you dealing with, brother? It's a lot of [ __ ] man. Can you tell [snorts] me something in particular? I don't know what to do. >> [snorts] >> I should go home for somebody who's supposed to love you, right? Supposed to be your mom, you know? Mhm. I went for years and years trying to please her, trying to make her happy. I begged, I pleaded. I did everything for that. I'm sorry for what I got in return. I prayed and I prayed for years. Right off the bat, Leroy tries to present himself as the victim, the good guy. But as his story unfolds, the facade starts to slip. It gets more erratic and a less believable. I You know what? I That happened to me and I still don't believe it, bro. I still can't make sense of it. Most of it's lies, anyways. You never get up to the truth. You know what I mean? Who's Who's lying? I don't know, man. There's a I don't know who they are, what they are, what the I don't know what the they are, man. Witches. Uh I don't know what you call them. People who are giving their life to darkness, you know? My family cuz I came from a family of witches. My grandma, my aunts, my mom. It's not something you talk about, really. It's a secret. You can't talk about it. From what I know, I don't know how her life is, but I got drug running in the middle of that [ __ ] When I got out of prison, man, about 9 years ago, I didn't believe in God and the devil and any [ __ ] I didn't want to believe in them. I [snorts] thought God was somebody Something told you to make you do better and the devil was someone they blamed when they couldn't man up to their own You know what I mean? Yeah. But they're real, hey. Real like me and you. I don't know if I was promised or I heard so many lies, dude. When you say you were promised, what is What does that mean? I don't know. I don't know. Promised to Satan. Like by >> Promised family? My mom. My mom, yeah. How did How did you find out about that? It's just You got to learn from other witches, you know, that ain't into this. Officers can tell that while Leroy sounds like he's rambling, there's something in it that feels real. Not all of it is dismissed. So, they push further. I [ __ ] snap, [clears throat] man. About all that [ __ ] lies. Secrets got my back. You know, they tell you one thing behind your back and this and that. And all I do is cook, clean, [ __ ] do laundry, cook three meals a day. You know, there's a big issue to deal with. Make you look bad, you know, cuz I'm doing it at the house. I can't even get a job cuz people do. I have quit three of my jobs. Officers start questioning if what they're really hearing is a mental break or the groundwork for an insanity plea. Because every time they get close to a breakthrough, he circles back to the imaginary stories that don't lead anywhere. And I know evil exists, man. Some reason God won't listen to me, man. And you think the evil got inside of you and that's why Uh, evil? Yeah. >> But when I When that happened, they're evil, bro. Mommy, I did a bad thing, but they put my sentence, they If the interrogation feels strange so far, it's about to get stranger because Leroy is about to call the woman in his family something so out of place that even the officers pause. She says she loves Jesus. She worships God, but she can't tell you a verse in the Bible. Nothing No, she reads the Bible every day. Who told you Who told you that she loves God? I can't remember. Let me see. I don't know who told me she was a witch. I think it was some chick I used to know that. Used to come by and kick it. I don't even know her. She'd come by and, you know, score some dope or whatever. She was a witch, too. No, I don't remember her name. She's a youngster. She used to drive a SUV. But, uh, she's a witch, too. You know, she didn't care. She talked about it. Just as it starts to feel like the interrogation is going nowhere, Leroy shifts. And then he drops a bombshell no one expected. What he says next changes the scope of the entire investigation. I couldn't do it, eh. You know all the [ __ ] she's done to me, I couldn't do it, eh. I couldn't see her like trash, eh. The way you did her old man, eh, you know. Chopped him up in that freezer, eh. And put him in the dump somewhere. I couldn't do that to her, eh, cuz she was trash after all that [ __ ] she's done to me. Now, there's another body for her old man, and dumped somewhere, but she has a partner. Put him in bags, chopped him up, and threw him away like trash, eh. He couldn't do that to her mom. Mhm. You were not. You were you were not. You got to kill him. I did. You were trying to set me up. I walked in his room, I saw him, pop pop. And I couldn't gun down that phone to call police, eh. Were they living together? Mhm. My husband died in that Camaro when I was here. That used to be his car? Pop pop. I was going to put the gun down, I was going to turn me in, because I was going to kill her, too, but I I couldn't. And um And just like that, the case is cracked open by Leroy's own cold confession. Not just one, he also admits to a second murder, a man named Jose Angel Frias, his mother's long-term boyfriend. But even during this, he keeps trying to paint himself as the good guy, or at least what he thinks that looks like, all while giving graphic details of his mother's brutal murder. The next thing I know, we're looking around for a something to chop him up with, eh, and get rid of a body. I never got rid of a body. Cuz that's my mom, I'll do it, you know what I mean? Whatever she says. Mhm. Where Where was this? >> It took me 2 hours maybe to chop that girl up. To get rid of her, you know what I mean? My mom's been in that freezer for 3 weeks, man. 3 weeks? Cuz I couldn't chop her up like that. You know what I mean? I tried. You must have saw that. But I got sick and started What did you do to her before that? I strangled her, right? With a clear confession now on record, officers pressed for specifics. And as usual, LeRoy doesn't shy away from giving them. Um did you uh What did you use to strangle her? My arm. Like that? Like a scarf? I'll remember. Okay. I did so. You saw that. How long did you hold her? For a little while. It took a long time, man. It's not like a thing. It took a long time. How can you hold her so long? Huh? Why did you hold her so long? Why you ask questions like you know why? To kill her, right? You want to You If you You made kind of a decision that I had to stop. You didn't stop him. I I begged you not to kill her with your [ __ ] music. You wanted to stop the music. So when your mom was dead, what did you use to cut her up? What did you use to cut her up? Yeah. A sawzall. You saw it in the sink, didn't you? Get it. Sawzall under the sink? Did you use anything else? No, I didn't. Where Where did you Where did you cut her up? I got her in the freezer. What's that? In the freezer. Oh, she was in the freezer. Is that where you cut? Um, yes, a couple of times. I couldn't do it. Then I forgot where to fillet both legs and an arm or something. About right here. She was laying in the freezer as you were cutting? Um. The sight of him casually eating a burger while describing how he killed his mother feels entirely evil. And then, out of nowhere, he asks something so out of character that it throws all of the detectives. I mean, there's no There is There is no death penalty here, okay? I understand that you're saying that that Yeah, I really want it, man. Based on what you did, that's what you want. [clears throat] >> Huh? Uh, I know I know that you're saying based on what you did, that's what you want. Um, but there there isn't a death penalty here, okay? And I know it >> Somewhere there is. Um. I don't want to stay, man. I know. I know you don't. Uh. For what I've done, I want to pay right away. If you want, you can take me out back and shoot me. You want to what? I'm not scared of death, bro. I don't think that you are. And I appreciate you Leroy Vallejos is ultimately charged with two counts of first-degree murder, three counts of battery, two counts of tampering with evidence, and one count of abuse of a resident resulting in death. He is held without bail at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center. In December 2025, a court finds him incompetent to stand trial. He is then committed to the New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute, where he will remain until deemed fit to face those charges.