Sir, They just cut his head off. Dude, holy [ __ ] These officers have just arrived at a children's park after a strange 911 call. They expect to check on someone in need, but instead, they walk straight into a scene so brutal it leaves even veteran officers frozen in disbelief. I I got a few. We have a human head and a human body. We have both parts, they're just not connected. What follows is one of the most vile discoveries the Los Cruces PD has ever made. Did you see the knife? It's this big. Yeah, it's a small knife. All right, let's look for any more victims. Dude, there could be another head in that bag. Hello, so I was just driving around and then I pulled into the top of the park Okay. >> and I seen one of the body laying on the floor >> [music] >> and then I think his head was on the side of him. Could you Could you tell if he was breathing or if he was not? Um no, his No, his head was completely off of his body. What do you mean? Like he was decapitated. Following the 911 call, a group of officers are dispatched to investigate, but the caller also mentioned something alarming. The crime looks fresh and there's a man in the park acting [music] suspiciously. As officers make their way to the scene, they have no idea that the man the caller saw is actually the killer hiding in the park and watching them. Dispatch, have one officer at the entrance, too. 911 dispatch 97, we got the east blocked off, we just need the south part of the park blocked off. Um it looks old. Okay. Uh it's Go make two five with him. He's the one sitting right there. Officers arrive and find a man lying motionless in the middle of the road with his head completely severed. As they begin securing the scene, one officer spots a man sitting beneath a tree just a few feet away. He signals another officer to move in and make contact, and when he approaches, he instantly notices that the man is covered in blood. 917 make 25 with a pedestrian in the middle of the park. Sir. Put your hands up. Stand up. Come over here. Put your hands up. Put your hands up. Get on your knees. Put your hands where I can see them. Contact. I got cover. I got cover. You got contact. Yep. Yep. Yep. Okay, you guys break. Oh, yeah. We got contact. 917 make 25. I just lost my guy. >> Just fan down, bro. Smoke him out. You good if I take everything out of your pocket? Put the gloves on, please. Put the gloves on, please. I don't have gloves. You got Yeah, I got gloves. Here you go. Stay right there. Hey. Hey. We need somebody to stay at the intersection to make sure our scene doesn't get contaminated. Smith, get back to the intersection. Smith, go to the body. After cuffing the bloodied man, officers also notice a blood-stained knife resting beside him. What stands out most to officers, however, is his eerily calm demeanor. He seems completely detached from the horror in front of him as if none of it has anything to do with him. To them, it's clear something is >> [music] >> very wrong with this man. Still, it seems like they've caught their killer. But what they don't realize yet is [music] that this isn't the first time he's been arrested for murder. While two officers escort the suspect to a patrol car, the others move in to secure the scene and look for more victims. Anyone could be out there. But as the search begins, the brutality of what they just witnessed starts to sink in, making it hard to stay focused. >> [snorts] >> All right, let's look for any more victims. He cut his head off. >> Dude, He has a knife. It's a small Dude, stand by with it. All right, here by the rock cuz there's a there's a big pool of blood in the grass. I don't I don't want to walk close to cuz I don't want to get in trouble for walking so close to it, but Do they say they have they have a suspect or a possible suspect? I'm I'm I'm like 99.99% that's it. Oh, really? You think so? He was right there. Next to the knife with the all the blood. Oh, was there a knife and blood over there? Yeah. It's like stuck to the ground. You can see all the blood on it. Oh, then never mind. I didn't know that part. Uh I got Ortiz watching the where we got the dude. Okay. Has he said anything? He said he didn't do it. He's all right. He was smiling and laughing when we took him up. Do you see the knife? Uh the one that was sticking in the ground? >> Yeah, it was this big. Yeah, it's a small knife. There might be another one cuz I there's that bag that's covered in blood. At least it looks like blood. >> Maybe there's another head in it. I'm actually thinking about that. Cuz there was blood clots on it. Yeah. Oh, [ __ ] I got by here. Nobody calls that [ __ ] out. Yeah, but >> Dude, you took a while. You know how how hard it is to get this My thing was is people calling in 424 this [music] dude. Well, you can't call in on the crime yet. This mother This dude had his head hacked off with a pen knife. >> says nothing. He was sitting there with his bloody hands next to his bloody bag. And then we found out the tree dude, he cut against the tree, too. There was like an extra ration of blood. >> against the You think he's just crazy? Uh but you have to be both. So they they did their business, came over here and let people like hey, let this mother be seen on the street. [music] No, it's just one dude. That's what I'm saying. Dude, he had to be gnawing at that thing for a while, though. A spine, dude, or tough. Like you had it you you had it be going to town on that thing. It takes an average male several blows with an axe. Yeah, like a that's a and that's meant for chopping. >> Yeah. You guys already cleared by that playground and everything? Yeah, we were all over there. He had to probably have a gun or a pipe. The one at 49th. You have what? Um and we got the one at 49th. Okay. I think the park's clear now cuz I came up all the way from the west coming east. So, go back with Ramirez and one of you all decide who's going to go to 108, okay? Officers canvass the park and fortunately find no other victims. But as they work on the scene, one detail keeps coming up in their conversations. The bloodied knife beside the suspect. [music] They can't believe that a weapon this small could have been used to behead a man. But as it would soon turn out, they were focused on the wrong detail. Because what the suspect did after the murder would shock detectives even more. For now, though, detectives turn their attention to the victim. Oh, no, that's it. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Well, I don't know. He's got a scorpion on his back. Like a You can go You can go look. Okay. Um So, the scene is right there. Where is he? Right there. You see all the blood? Why how did he He dropped this ball. Head got over there somewhere. So, he Kicked it out to move it or he kicked it or rolled it or something like that. So, we got a tattoo. times two Yeah, we got some stab wounds. Some good stab wounds. Got multiple stab wounds. And he's saying it's a 2-in tear. Yeah, it's stab wounds like there. What's that, Dustin? Glass? Right there. See that? That shiny stuff there and there. What is that? Could be spit. Yeah, could be spit. Looks homeless kind of. Yeah. There's camp that's up here. Let's see where they're at. Uh-huh. And I see they said there's a camp up there, so I'm wondering if that's where he's actually been staying at. And you think he dragged him over? >> yeah, yeah. There's There's drag marks if you look You shine your light up there. Okay, right by this tree, there's a puddle of blood right there. And right on the patrol. He either was carrying the head or the head fell off from that time. It looks like uh Did the And there's a roll right there. He That roll? Yeah, cuz there's blood right there. He either or kicked it. Yeah. The victim is identified as 51-year-old James Garcia. His head is found nearly [music] 20 ft from his body, and an autopsy would later confirm more than 80 stab wounds. Drag marks across the park suggest he was attacked, beheaded, then moved deliberately into the roadway. Meanwhile, at the patrol car, an officer works to confirm the suspect's identity. Is that the shirt? Bro, what's your name? Joel Science, you know about him? So, this is what he gave me. I don't know if you guys found any identification. He just said he had a feel wallet on Joel Science, Joel Science. Start right. Yeah. As word spreads of the suspect's identity, one officer realizes this isn't the first time he's dealt with Joel. You know who the suspect is? Science. It's Joel. Huh? It's Joel. Which one's Joel? Joel Science. It's the one that code five vex wrote death to in his own blood and then signed his name. Eight weeks before this incident, Joel went on a vandalism spree in Las Cruces. He smashed the windows of two local businesses, and inside one of them, officers found walls covered in homophobic slurs and hate-filled messages written in marker and smeared with blood. Damages totaled thousands of dollars, and surveillance cameras captured Joel disappearing into the night. He was arrested days later and charged with multiple felonies, but was released pending trial. A clear warning of what officers would encounter just weeks later. Joel is transported to the Las Cruces Police Station and placed in a booking cell awaiting the detectives arrival. When they arrive, they waste no time and begin his interrogation hoping to get a confession, but Joel has different plans. Joel? Yes, sir. I'm Detective Gonzales Las Cruces Police Department. This is my partner Detective Lockridge. You feeling all right right now? Oh, yeah. Okay. What were you doing at Apodaca Park this past night? I don't You don't know? Who were you there with? Tell me what you do know, Joel. Huh? Tell me what you do know. I did. What happened with your What'd you get on your hands? What's that? You don't know what you got on your hands? And you don't know what you were doing in Apodaca Park tonight? Yeah. What were you doing? I wasn't in Apodaca Park until I got called. You didn't do That's what officers found. I don't know. So, why do you think you're here, Joel? You guys brought me here. You tell I'm asking you why we brought you here. Why did I don't know. I'm asking you. You tell me. Huh? I don't know. You ask me. Joel refuses to talk and for the next 30 minutes, he gives detectives nothing. It's clear he won't break that easily, so they decide to give him a break. In the meantime, they collect his blood stained clothing, DNA samples and photographs, then begin digging into his past and finally discover why Joel is so good at deflecting. Years earlier, officers were called to the Townhouse Motel after reports of a shooting. Inside they found 21-year-old Benjamin Montoya dead on the floor with a gunshot wound to the chest. The man arrested at the scene [music] was Joel Arciniega Sands. He was charged with first-degree murder, but there was one problem. The weapon was missing. Months later, the gun surfaced after a robbery arrest, and with no way to prove who pulled the trigger on Benjamin, the charges were dropped. Joel walked free. When Joel returns to the interrogation room, detectives have a new unorthodox strategy. They use his history of writing homophobic slurs against him, suggesting the victim was his boyfriend, hoping to provoke a reaction and get him to confess what really happened. Joel, I'm just trying to find out more information about James. So, was he your boyfriend? Were you guys dating each other? Okay. Were you guys in some kind of lovers' quarrel? Yeah. Oh. Who was that? Like, because he's your boyfriend, you guys got in an argument? Who told you that? That's just what I'm getting. You're getting me that. You tell me, man. How How would you call me gay? I'm not calling you gay. I'm not judging you. >> You're married? Yeah. Who are you married to? My wife. Are you married to James? Are you trying to insult me? Huh? Are you insulting me? No, I'm not insulting you. I'm not calling you gay. I'm asking for information. Why are you calling me gay, though? I'm not calling you gay. We're just trying to I didn't call you gay. You just called me gay. I said, are you married to James? No. Who told you I'm gay? Okay. Well, I'm trying to find out why James is dead in a park and you were have his blood all over your hands. So, I'm not gay. I bet you are. man. Where are you getting this from? I'm not lying about anything. >> [music] >> You know why you're lying. >> [snorts] >> You're telling me I don't know that >> Every time I talk to you, yeah, you act like a child. I'm not acting like a child. Yes, you are. Okay. So then tell me about James. Tell me about James. Is that why you're pissed because James thought you were gay? No. Did James hit on you? No. Did he make some kind of advance towards you that you didn't like? I don't want to fight you. I don't want to fight you. Well, let's see if my girlfriend thinks so. I don't want to fight you. Well, then don't call me gay. I'm not calling you gay. Okay. Here's what I think happened. You and James are in a relationship. He said something to you. >> [music] >> And you killed him. Where did you take her? Does your wife know where you're at right now? No, I don't want to tell you anything. >> [music] >> Does she know that you're sleeping in the park with another guy? >> [clears throat] >> No. All of that's You told me earlier you were sleeping in the park. You and James were going on walks in the park. I didn't do that. That's exactly what you told me. That's not what I said. That's not what >> [music] >> It's on the camera. Look, Joey, you know what you did. We just want to know why you did it. So why did you kill that guy? He was with my wife. He was with your wife. When did this happen? 4 years ago. 4 years ago? >> [music] >> Yeah. Okay. Was that reported? No, we were all homeless. What's that? We were all homeless. You guys are all homies? Homeless. Homeless, I'm sorry. Those were Those were our bags that he You're stealing from us. Okay. Which bags are yours? This is the bag my ex bought. Don't worry about it. You're a true friend. Okay. I wanted to give them back. I just tried to take it before the guy he saw it. So, yeah. I have my girlfriend staying with me now. And what else did you do? I kicked him off. That guy actually body slammed me and kicked That's all he was saying. He kicked soccer with his head? Yeah, he kicked him out of the car. That's what he was trying to do to me. I appreciate that. I appreciate you being honest with us. Can I get a cigarette? You want a cigarette? I'd like to have one before I go back. Do you like to have a cigarette? Within minutes, Joel loses his composure and admits [music] to the killing. He claims James Garcia had sexually assaulted his wife years earlier, that he pulled a gun on him forcing him to act in self-defense. [music] But when detectives searched the scene, they found no weapon and later confirmed there was no record of a marriage, no victim, and no report of any assault. It was a story entirely fabricated by Joel to justify what he'd done. The interrogation ends there and Joel is transported to the Doña Ana County Detention Center where he's formally charged with first-degree murder. Over the following years, the case stalls after Joel is declared mentally incompetent to stand trial and placed under psychiatric evaluation. During that time, investigators learn that Joel has suffered from schizophrenia since the age of 11 and had been off his medication for years. It wouldn't be until March 2025, almost 4 years after the killing, that he's finally ruled competent [music] and brought before a jury. After a week-long trial, the jury finds Joel Arciniega Saenz guilty of first-degree murder. He now faces a life sentence in the New Mexico Department of Corrections.