Four suspected in fatal shooting of Cruces woman

Matthew Reisen, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
·3 min read

Aug. 7—Four people from southern New Mexico are suspects in the fatal shooting of a 25-year-old from Las Cruces who was found last month in the mountains outside Boulder, Colorado.

Arrest warrants have been filed for Jaime Moore, 31, Cody Hobirk, 43, Ashley Provine, 18, and Elizabeth Griffin, 23, in the July 23 death of Alexis Baca. Moore and Hobirk are facing charges of murder and aggravated robbery, and Provine and Griffin are facing charges of accessory to murder.

All four have been booked into the Doña Ana County Detention Center.

Investigators believe Baca was stranded in Colorado when her driver got arrested, and asked the four for help getting home, according to court records. Deputies said the group robbed Baca after they realized she had money and drugs, shooting her in the head and leaving her body near a popular hiking trail.

Relatives said Baca, who went by "Lexi," was a mother to a "beautiful little girl," according to a GoFundMe started for her funeral expenses.

"We come to you with broken hearts, as we have tragically lost our Lexi ... She will FOREVER be loved and missed," the page said. "... If you can't help, we ask for prayers to help us get through this nightmare. Those are worth so much."

The family declined to speak with the Journal.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Boulder County District Court:

A Boulder County Sheriff's Office deputy responded around 10 a.m. after hikers found Baca's body near Realization Point trailhead, southwest of Boulder. Deputies said Baca had cigarette burns across her body and had been shot in the head.

Deputies found a July 20 police report where a Colorado state trooper arrested a driver on parole violations and the vehicle was left with Baca, who was a passenger. The driver told deputies Baca came along for a road trip to Montana to buy a motorcycle.

He said there was $20,000 and two guns in the car, and he asked Baca to wait for him to bond out of jail. Detectives found surveillance video of Baca driving the man's vehicle around Boulder, often with a white pickup truck close behind.

Deputies said the license plate on the truck came back to Moore and detectives drove to Las Cruces to interview him. Deputies detained Moore and his fiancée Provine, and found a rifle and pistol in the truck with them.

Provine told deputies she, Moore and Hobirk drove to Colorado to help Baca get home, and they met in a hotel. She said once Moore and Hobirk learned of the money Baca had, they told her to follow them in a separate vehicle.

Provine told deputies they drove into the mountains and Moore told Provine to "take a long walk and to not come back until he called her." She said that, when she came back, Moore and Hobirk were alone and Baca "was nowhere to be found."

Provine told deputies they stayed at a Double Tree hotel in Denver and drove back to Las Cruces. Moore told deputies Baca said she would give him $2,000 to get her back home.

He said he, Hobirk, Provine and Griffin met Baca at a hotel, and Hobirk repeatedly floated the idea of robbing her. Moore told deputies Baca led them to a parking lot in the mountains, where she fired a gun at him.

He said he shot her in the head, left her body and drove both vehicles to a hotel in Denver. Moore told deputies they all washed blood from the vehicle Baca had been in and wiped away fingerprints.

He said they found two guns, $6,000 and 5,000 pills in the vehicle, and tossed the guns out the window on the trip home. Moore told deputies they tried to get rid of the pills and gave away cash to people in New Mexico.