Three charged in ABQ murder-for-hire plot
Jul. 16—Detectives say a man paid two people $15,000 in drugs and cash to fatally shoot a former associate in Northeast Albuquerque over a previous alleged robbery.
Martin Trujillo, 55, Freddy Granger, 41, and Cassandra Dominguez, 37, are each charged with an open count of murder in the May 1 death of 46-year-old Gary Escareno.
Detectives allege that Trujillo hired Granger and Dominguez to kill Escareno — a man Trujillo ran a rental assistance scam with — after Escareno allegedly robbed him.
Granger and Dominguez were already wanted in a June 13 incident in which they allegedly fled from a traffic stop in Carlsbad, got into a crash and carjacked a man at gunpoint.
Federal agents arrested the pair on July 8 in Albuquerque, less than a mile from where the homicide occurred, according to police. Arresting agents found a gun on Granger.
Granger has been booked into the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility and Dominguez is behind bars at the Eddy County Detention Center. Trujillo has a warrant for his arrest in the homicide.
Dominguez's criminal history includes mostly non-violent arrests for drug-related offenses, according to court records. Granger, also known as "Snoop," has battled substance abuse and been in and out of jail on charges including involuntary manslaughter, kidnapping, armed robbery and other violent felonies.
Court records show he was sentenced in 2015 to 10 years after taking a plea deal in the nonfatal stabbing of a woman outside an East Central motel.
Police responded around 10:30 p.m. to the area of Candelaria and Juan Tabo NE, after a car crashed into a pole, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. They found Escareno in the driver's seat with a gunshot wound to the head.
Witnesses told police they heard gunfire and saw a man and a woman fleeing the scene. Data from the car showed a "large occupant" was in the passenger seat when the crash occurred.
Police said they found messages in Escareno's phone from a woman who asked him to pick up a woman and her boyfriend at the Taco Bell at Lomas and San Mateo. Security footage from the Taco Bell showed Escareno pick up a pair who matched the description of those seen fleeing the shooting.
Detectives found calls from the woman to Trujillo in the hours leading up to and following Escareno's death, according to the complaint. Escareno's friend told police he had robbed "J Money," identified as Trujillo, after he didn't split the profits of a rental assistance scam.
The complaint does not elaborate on the alleged rental scheme the men were involved in.
Police said they found messages from a phone to Trujillo telling him they were going to the Taco Bell and to ask what "he" is driving. Trujillo responded "he's there" and, after the shooting, Trujillo received the message: "Done deed."
Trujillo sent a message asking for their Cash App and, the next day, said "Money landed TY," according to the complaint. Police said they were able to trace the phone, linked to Dominguez and Granger, to the Taco Bell and the scene of the homicide.
Then, police said an inmate at the Los Lunas prison asked to speak with police, telling them Trujillo initially asked him to kill Escareno. The man told police he saw Trujillo pay Granger for the homicide with $15,000 worth of methamphetamine, fentanyl, a vehicle and cash.
