Residents on Rhode Island Street NE described sirens, floodlights and the removal of a white chest freezer late last fall.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A welfare check at a Northeast Albuquerque home in late October 2025 ended with officers finding a woman’s dismembered remains inside a chest freezer and arresting her 49-year-old son, a discovery that has unsettled the surrounding block for months.
Police identified the victim as 69-year-old Ernestina Lucero and charged her son, Leroy Felix Vallejos, with first-degree murder, battery and tampering with evidence. The case gained new attention this week when body-worn camera video was made public. Investigators say relatives, a neighbor and a care worker had raised alarms after weeks without contact. Officers described locating trash bags among frozen food inside the freezer and recovering a blood-stained saw from under a sink. The home sits on Rhode Island Street NE, east of Interstate 25, in a residential area of single-story houses.
Residents recalled a sudden crush of police cars, a mobile command post and bright lights that turned the street into daylight. “They started taking things out, and then they brought the freezer out,” said a neighbor who lives two doors down. Another neighbor said she grew concerned after not seeing Lucero tending plants in her yard. Officers wrote in reports that medication bottles and mail were left behind. According to the complaint, Vallejos first told officers his mother was traveling with a boyfriend or in Mexico; later, he allegedly admitted choking her weeks earlier and dismembering her with an electric saw.
Investigators say Vallejos expressed unusual beliefs about “darkness” and witchcraft while describing his mother and others conspiring against him. Detectives photographed the kitchen, hallway and yard and documented the removal of multiple tied plastic bags from the freezer. The Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center lists Vallejos in custody under preventive detention. Police have not named any additional suspects and have not released a final autopsy report. The Albuquerque Police Department has said additional video will not be published while court proceedings continue.
Neighbors say they are balancing shock with grief for a long-time resident. “It’s heartbreaking,” said a woman who walks the block daily. “She was quiet and always waved.” A caregiver who visited the area earlier in the fall told officers she had lost contact with Lucero weeks before the welfare check. The small home, with a chain-link fence and a gravel yard, now shows a new padlock and plywood covering a rear window. By week’s end, some residents had placed small votive candles on the sidewalk near the driveway.
The criminal case remains pending while the defendant undergoes treatment after being found incompetent to stand trial in December 2025. A future hearing will set the next deadline for competency updates and scheduling. Until then, the police investigation and court process remain open.
Author note: Last updated February 1, 2026.