Police investigate possible murder-suicide in Deming

DEMING - Two people are dead after a Friday shooting in Deming, according to police. Police suspect it was a murder-suicide.

At around 11:30 p.m., the City of Deming Police Department responded to the 500 block of Nickel Street regarding reports of multiple gunshots, the department announced in a post on its Facebook page.

During the department's investigation of the original call, another 911 call came in from a male subject who claimed that his sister had been shot. Officers then responded to a home in the 200 block of Nickel Street, where they made contact with the caller and learned the victim's location.

Upon arrival, Deming police found a 2019 Dodge Caravan along with a deceased female who police say had sustained "multiple gunshot wounds."

In the process of securing the scene, they also encountered a male who was also deceased. Officers found a handgun "near the male subject," the release states.

The female has been identified as 38-year-old Jana Hart Ledesma. Ledesma had been employed by Mimbres Memorial Hospital since 2014, according to previous reporting in the Sun-News and Deming Headlight.

Hart Ledesma started her career with Mimbres in the environmental services department. She moved to the nursing home as a hospitality aid, then became a certified nursing aid. She was then the assistant to the nursing home Activities Director, and then became the Activities Director herself, according to a May 2022 report. This year, she was recognized as a 2021 co-employee of the year for Mimbres Memorial Hospital and Nursing Home and Mimbres Valley Medical Group.

The deceased male was identified as her husband, Walter Ledesma, 47, of Lubbock, Texas.

Authorities say this is currently being investigated as a murder-suicide. Anyone with information about Friday night's incident is asked to call Lt. Lara or Cpt. Montoya of the DPD at 575-546-3011.

Damien Willis is a Lead Reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News. He can be reached at 575-541-5443, dwillis@lcsun-news.com or @DamienWillis on Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Police investigate possible murder-suicide in Deming