Two suspects arrested in fatal robbery
May 12—Detectives have arrested two men in an alleged fentanyl robbery-turned-shooting that left a man dead at a motel near Downtown Albuquerque last year.
Andrew Wilson and Samuel Jackson Jr., both 29, are each charged with an open count of murder, armed robbery and conspiracy in the March 2021 killing of Frank Brown, 46.
Court records show both men have lengthy criminal histories that include arrests for armed robbery, and Wilson is currently awaiting trial in multiple robberies that happened after Brown's slaying.
Wilson's attorney declined to comment on the case and it is unclear if Jackson has an attorney.
Detectives identified Jaelene Miera as a conspirator in court records but she has not been charged in the crime. The 20-year-old woman was arrested days after Brown's death in the unrelated 2020 homicide of a woman outside an apartment complex.
The investigation into Brown's death started March 4, 2021, with a report of gunfire outside the Imperial Inn Motel near Central and Interstate 25, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.
Officers found Brown fatally shot outside a running car in the parking lot with a crowd of people around him. A woman told police she, Brown and his friend were leaving the motel when a man and woman ran up and tried to rob them at gunpoint.
Police said the woman told them she heard three gunshots, Brown fell to the ground and his friend left the area. Surveillance video caught the robbery but the imagery was too blurry to identify anyone involved.
Wilson was arrested in May 2021 in unrelated robberies and told police he had details on a homicide at the motel, according to court records. He said a woman named Jaelene shot the man while trying to steal fentanyl from him in a "robbery gone wrong."
Police said they searched Miera's phone and found messages with Wilson plotting to rob "Franky" and Jackson meeting up with her at the same time. Miera and Wilson refused to speak with police afterward.
Then, in March 2022, detectives used the newly-formed Digital Intelligence Team to place all three at the scene of the homicide. Jackson told police he was only there to protect Miera and was "at the wrong place and wrong time."
Police said Jackson told them he heard gunfire after Brown tried to grab Miera's gun but did not see who fired, according to court records. Jackson told police Miera accused him of setting her up afterward and dropped him off without paying him what she promised for helping during the robbery.
